Change of Perspective
by Language Nerd
Summary: "I should have told you sooner." What happens when Kensi finds out she isn't the only woman in Deeks' life? Will it change their relationship as partners? Or will it force them to come together?
1. Chapter 1

Here is the first chapter of a multi-chapter story. I have a lot of it written and I plan for it to span over all the seasons. This starts at the end of season one when Deeks joined the show. I know he's only in two episodes towards the end of season one and then doesn't come back until season two but I've decided not to go into that and just have him there starting now.

I'm actually very nervous to post this. It isn't like my other stories and may not be for everyone but I liked the idea so I hope you guys do too!

Takes place in season one.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

Days have passed since they've pretty much had a moment to breathe. The team had finally finished the case and they were now seated at their desks writing their reports. This case hadn't been easy on Deeks or Kensi because it involved two small children who weren't growing up in the happy home that they deserved to be in. The father was in the navy and hadn't returned the same person as when he left.

It was close to 5pm when Sam spoke. "Anyone up for drinks? I'm buying."

Kensi looked over to Deeks who seemed to be in his own world working on a report. She wanted to go if he was going otherwise she'd rather not.

"I'm up for it." Callen happily agreed.

Sam then turned to Deeks. "You in Deeks?"

Deeks looked up completely lost. "I'm sorry, what?" Sounding as exhausted as he looked.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to have drinks."

"Uhm… no, I'm actually really tired but thank you."

Sam then turned his attention to her. "You in, Kensi?"

She contemplated the idea for a moment before declining. "No, I think I'm going to get to sleep early, it's been a long week." Sam knew this case had hit home for both of the younger agents. They were quieter than usual and he didn't know why. Some cases affected you more than others. It all depended on the story. He thought a few drinks as a team would help them relax but they didn't seem to want to go out tonight.

"Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow." Sam said leaving with Callen.

"See you tomorrow."

She had finished her report but Deeks still seemed to be working hard. "You almost finished with your report Deeks?"

"Yeah, just finishing up the last part."

"You have any plans for dinner?" She asked hoping he would want a grab something to eat with her. She felt that they could bond over food.

"No, I'm probably just gonna eat some leftovers or something." He said closing his laptop and moving to get up. "I'll see you tomorrow." And then he left.

"Okay…" Her voice faded away. She was worried about her partner, not sure what she should do. They hadn't been partners for too long and they had a long way to go before they could actually start trusting each other but she felt compelled and responsible as his partner to do something.

* * *

She was standing outside his door with take-out in her hand, she could see that the lights were on so he was home. She stood there for a moment rethinking her decision to come to his apartment, maybe she was invading his space, he'd never been to her place before. Finally building up enough courage to ring the doorbell, she waited for him to come to the door. There was movement on the other side and then he opened it.

"Kens… what are you doing here?" He seemed very shocked to see her.

"It's been a long day and I just thought you could use some take-out from your favorite place."

"That's really sweet of you Kens…" All of a sudden there was a crash and movement in the back of his apartment. He looked behind him and didn't know what to say. "Uhm…"

Turning back towards her, Kensi looked completely embarrassed. "You're not alone, I'm sorry I shouldn't have come to the door like that, I'm gonna go." Already turning to leave.

"No Kensi, it's not what you think, nobody's here. I mean there is someone here just not who you think it is." Rambling to make her stay. "I want to introduce you to someone."

She was confused, she had no clue who would be there if it wasn't who she thought it was, a girlfriend or a wife. But he was obviously willing to let her in so she came inside.

A dog came walking over to her and she bent down to pet him. "That's my dog Monty." Deeks walked closer towards the back of the apartment. "Jules!" He shouted. "You okay?"

"Yeah." A voice came from the next room.

"Can you come here?"

"Yeah." There were more crashing noises and then a little girl no older than six years old walked out. Her hair a very light brown and her eyes a beautiful blue. She was wearing a blue dress and white socks as she walked over to Deeks and looked up at Kensi.

"Kens, this is Juliana, my daughter. Jules, this is Kensi, my partner from work."

She was shocked that Deeks had a kid. He'd never mentioned her before and he had a tough work schedule but that wasn't relevant in this moment with his daughter standing in front of her. "Hi." Kensi said with a small smile "It's nice to meet you."

Juliana grabbed onto her dad's leg and hid half of herself behind him then she replied timidly. "Hi."

"What were you doing in there?" Deeks asked her.

She looked over at Kensi nervously and Deeks crouched down to her level. She then whispered to him. "I couldn't reach something and it fell down."

"You okay?" She just nodded.

After a moment of awkward silence Kensi started to speak. "Well I brought takeout, I have cashew chicken and broccoli beef. I don't know if you've eaten already but we could split it in three."

"No, we haven't. Thanks Kens." He then directed his attention to Juliana again. "You want some chicken or do you still want mac-n-cheese?"

"Chicken." She softly said.

"Chicken it is, let me get some plates." As Deeks went to the kitchen, Kensi put the takeout bag on the coffee table and started unpacking it. Juliana watched her every move, seeing what she had in the bag. Deeks came back and put the plates down. Juliana sat on the floor with Monty by her side on one side of the coffee table and Deeks put some chicken and rice on her plate. He sat down next to Kensi on the couch and grabbed the remote. "We were gonna watch Beauty and the Beast with dinner, I hope you like princesses Kens." He said with a smirk knowing she didn't grow up dreaming of becoming a princess. Juliana was looking at her waiting to see what her answer would be.

She smiled. "Of course. Everyone loves a good love story." The movie started and they all ate in silence.

When Juliana had finished her food she moved to sit in Deeks' lap. Kensi looked over at them and saw so much love. She could see the strong bond between the father and daughter and it made her think of her and her own Dad. When the film credits started rolling, Juliana turned around to hug her Dad.

Kensi started to gather all the food cartons and put them back in the bag, when she heard Juliana speak. "Kensi looks like Belle, she's really pretty." Juliana whispered to her Dad but it was loud enough for Kensi to hear.

"She is really pretty isn't she?" Deeks said with a smile looking at Kensi.

Kensi started to blush. "Thank you. You're really pretty too. I love your dress."

Juliana didn't respond so Deeks prompted her to speak. "What do you say?"

She giggled as he tickled her and she finally answered. "Thank you."

"How old are you?" Kensi asked.

Juliana didn't answer again at first so after a pause Deeks asked her again. "How old are you Jules?"

She looked up at her Dad and softly said. "Six."

"That's right you just turned six and you're in what grade?"

"First."

"That's so cool! Are you learning to read?" Kensi asked enthusiastically.

Juliana nodded and Deeks added. "She's been reading a lot of books to me." Obviously very proud. "Speaking of which, I think it's time for you to go to bed." Deeks said and she got off his lap.

"Goodnight." Kensi said.

"Night." Jules said timidly and she started walking towards her room.

"I'm gonna head home."

"No! I mean please stay. It'll only take a minute." He said as he followed Juliana.

"Okay." She replied and then looked around. She could see Juliana's artwork on every wall and toys scattered here and there. It was a small apartment but Deeks had made it feel homey.

* * *

When Deeks walked back into the living room, he saw Kensi standing by the bookshelf looking at a few photos he had framed.

She turned to look at him as he approached her. "I'm sorry I showed up at your place unannounced and if you feel like I forced you to introduce me to her." She felt like she had invaded his personal life.

"You didn't force me and… I should have told you sooner. I'm sorry." He took a moment and then continued. "She's just the part of my life that isn't messed up by this dark world, this job and everything we see on a daily basis..."

"I get it." She understood what he meant. They see the worst in the world and he wants distance between the job and his life at home.

"When I come home she's always just so happy to see me and nothing else matters in that moment."

"She's really sweet." She looked back to the photo in front of her where Deeks and Juliana were looking at each other with the biggest smiles on their faces.

"She's the sweetest. Really shy at first but once she gets to know you, she can be such a little character." Kensi laughed still looking at the photos. She did seem like the polar opposite of her Dad.

"And her mother?" She asked hesitantly, not seeing any other woman in the photos.

"Uh…"

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's okay." He looked at the photos as well and then he pointed to the picture of him and Juliana when she was just a tiny baby. "The hospital, or the social workers there I guess, called me, said that… her biological mother had left her behind with a note with my phone number. So they asked me to come in, they did a paternity test and… she was mine." He paused thinking about that moment and then he huffed a laugh. "I had no idea what I was doing. I was 24, I had just started my training to become a cop and I was all alone with this little baby who depended on me for everything. I'd never had that before."

"I can't imagine." She would be completely shell shocked if she would be becoming a mother but at least she'd have 9 months to mentally prepare for it unlike Deeks.

"Money was really tight and it still is. Between the private school for safety with this job and the nanny who picks her up everyday, it's tough to be a single parent with one income but we're doing alright. I've tried to create the perfect home for her, I know it's not big but we make it work."

"You have a really nice place Deeks and from what I've seen you've done a great job raising her."

"That means a lot." They both gave each other a small smile. He was seeing a softer side to Kensi than he was used to but then again so was she of him.

* * *

There it is. In this story he has a daughter. I just love thinking of Deeks being a Dad so I wrote a story where that is reality. Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Here is chapter two! Thank you so much for the positive response on the first chapter!

Takes place in season one.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

Deeks woke up early in the morning to the annoying shrieking of his alarm-clock. He moved his hand to shut it off on his phone and then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He had to get up and get Jules ready for school. Walking into Jules' room, he crouched down next to her bed rubbing small circles on her back to wake her up.

"Good morning." He said softly and she started to stir. "It's time to get up."

"M'kay." She mumbled.

"I'm going to go make breakfast. You get dressed okay?"

She didn't respond but she was awake so he headed to the kitchen. He got out the pancake batter and mixed the ingredients until it was good. He made the pancakes, got out plates and put it on the table.

He walked back to the room and sighed when he saw her asleep again. She hadn't moved at all. "Jules. Time to get up. Breakfast is ready and you should've been dressed already." He pulled her up to a sitting position and she went unwillingly. She yawned and made no move to stand up from her position now. "We have a tight schedule. Let's go, let's go, let's go." Still not moving. "What's wrong Jules? Are you sick?" He felt her forehead and it wasn't hot at all. "I made pancakes sweetheart. Let's go eat." He picked her up and carried her the short way to the table.

He had cut her pancakes into smaller pieces but that did nothing to help speed up the process of getting out the door. He finished and stood up. "I'm gonna go get dressed, you do the same when you finish okay?" She nodded.

He walked into his bathroom and brushed his teeth, then headed to the closet to pick out some clothes and get dressed.

By the time he came back into the room, Jules was still sitting at the table but she'd stopped eating. "Jules, why aren't you moving? Why haven't you finished your breakfast?"

"I don't want to go."

"I know you don't but you have to. It's required." He knew she didn't like school. It was the same conversation they had every day.

"Why?"

"Because that's the way it is. Now let's get you dressed and you can finish your pancakes in the car."

* * *

It was now 7:45 in the morning and Juliana was putting her shoes on in her bedroom when Deeks called out to her. "Jules, we gotta go now, you're gonna be late."

"Coming." She said as she came out of her bedroom. She grabbed her backpack and they went out the door.

When he started driving Juliana asked him a question. "Daddy, can you come home early from work today?"

"I don't know sweetheart, I have to work until I've finished everything." She asked that question a lot and he could never give her a good answer.

"Why?"

"Because that's what my boss wants me to do."

"I don't like your boss." Juliana said softly.

Deeks chuckled softly. "I know baby girl." He reached his hand back towards hers and she grabbed onto it. It was hard for her to understand that a job meant income which payed for food and housing, all she cared about was seeing her dad.

He dropped her off at school and started his morning commute in the LA traffic to get to work. He was late as usual and was sure that he'd get comments from Callen and Sam. He walked into the bullpen and as expected, everyone was already seated at their desks.

"Look who decided to show up?" Callen said to Sam but the question was for everyone to hear.

"Late night maybe?" Sam questioned and Deeks just smiled. He knew they'd stop soon enough.

"Must've been some girl, huh?" Callen added.

"You have no idea." They really didn't.

* * *

They'd been having a slow day which was good because they had a lot of paperwork to finish up from the last case. The whole team was working in the bullpen all day, so when Kensi and Deeks went to get lunch, she finally had some time to talk to him privately.

"You want burgers or tacos today?"

"I don't care, whichever." She replied. "So…" She wasn't sure how to bring it up but she just got straight to the point. "Everything okay this morning?"

"Yeah, it took awhile to get Jules to sit up and then she didn't want to get dressed or eat her breakfast. Everything just took forever."

"I'm sorry."

"She wants me to come home early every day and I can't promise anything because I never know what kind of case we're going to get. And I feel horrible about that." Now that someone knew about his daughter, he could let out all his frustrations. "Sorry, I'm bombarding you with my issues."

"That's okay, let's get something to eat, relax and hopefully we'll be done with paperwork at five o'clock and not get a case today."

"Right?"

"Ugh, I just want to curl up on the couch tonight and go to sleep early."

"You gonna watch top model?"

"I've got an entire season recorded just waiting to be watched."

"Classy."

"Oh shut up." She laughed. "What do you have planned? Another princess movie perhaps?"

"I'm not sure yet, we'll see what we're in the mood for and don't mock me. You and I both know you loved watching Belle fall in love with the Beast."

"Maybe." She smiled.

"Order for Deeks." The guy from the taco truck called out.

With their food they headed over to the picnic tables facing the beach.

Kensi sighed. "It feels good to sit in the sun. I feel like we've just been running without a break, you know."

"Yeah, I totally get what you're saying." They started to eat in silence, thinking about the last case. "Uhm… growing up my father wasn't always the nicest, actually I don't remember a time that he was and seeing what those kids had to go through yesterday… I'm just glad they're okay now."

"Me too."

"I get that the father was sick but that doesn't make it okay to hurt his children." He shook his head.

"Sometimes they can't help it though. They don't even realize what they're doing and how it's affecting the people around them." To him it sounded like she was speaking from experience but he didn't ask any further questions.

"Well I hope I never get like that. It's terrible and hard to understand. Jules and I are best friends. We do everything together when there's time."

"Reminds me of the relationship I had with my Dad. We were best friends too."

"Were?" He asked tentatively.

"He passed away when I was fifteen."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"So then it was just you and your mom?"

"Uh no, but my Dad and I would do everything together and he's the one who taught me how to hotwire a car."

He noticed the quick change of topic. It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about her mom so he just went along with it. "Cause that's an everyday necessity."

"Hey, it saved your life just a few weeks ago."

"Fair enough." He held up his hands.

"He was a marine so he had a tough job like you, weird hours and deployments but he always put me first and I'll always remember that."

"You don't even know how happy that makes me to hear that."

"She'll only think about all the good times that she got to spend with you."

"I hope so."

* * *

As it was nearing 4:30, Hetty came over to the group and handed them each more paperwork they had forgotten about.

"I'd like this to be turned in before you all leave. It's already long overdue."

Kensi could see the disappointment on Deeks' face because he thought he would be able to leave on time but it wasn't looking very hopeful now. They all got to work quietly and at five o'clock Kensi texted Deeks because she didn't want Callen and Sam to hear what she had to say.

'You want me to finish your paperwork?'

He replied immediately. 'I can't ask you to do that Kens.'

'I don't mind, you should go home to Juliana.'

She could see that he was typing for a long time either writing a long message or contemplating what to respond.

'Thank you.'

'Just leave it on your desk I'll get it when I get up later.'

'Okay.'

Deeks started packing up his bag and Callen and Sam looked up but Sam was the one to speak. "You can't possibly be done already."

"That's what happens when you work efficiently." Deeks said with his signature smirk and he headed for the door giving Kensi one last smile.

"You've been really quiet today." Callen stated waiting for her to elaborate.

"Uhm… just tired I guess." She returned her attention to the paperwork in front of her. She didn't want to give anything away about the new information she'd found out yesterday. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea of Deeks having a daughter.

"What's up with your partner lately?"

"What do you mean? He seems fine to me." She hoped that she sounded convincing.

If they suspected anything they didn't comment on it further as they got back to work.

A little while later Callen started to pack up his bag and Sam decided to call it a night as well.

"You almost finished?" Callen asked Kensi.

"Uh… not really." Truth was, she had finished her paperwork already and was just waiting for them to leave.

"Don't work too hard." Sam said.

"I won't." Callen and Sam left.

She got up and went over to the kitchen next to the bullpen, grabbing a glass of water and then the files on Deeks' desk. She started working hard on typing up the reports.

* * *

He arrived home at 6:00pm because of the traffic, but it was still earlier than usual. He turned the key, opened the door and heard a conversation coming from the bedroom so he called out. "I'm home!"

He then heard little feet running towards him and she was there. "Daddy!" She sprinted towards him with the biggest smile and gave him a huge hug. Alice, the nanny, walked in after her and grabbed her bag. "We were playing with my dolls."

"That's so fun."

"I'll see you tomorrow after school Jules." Alice said.

"Okay, bye Alice."

"Thank you, see you tomorrow." Deeks closed and locked the door behind her.

"Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah." Juliana replied quickly but then moved onto something else. "I'm so happy you're here, I have to show you something." She said pulling Deeks' hand along. They went over to her dollhouse and she showed him all of them set up. "They're all having dinner." All her dolls were seated at the small dining room table.

"That's awesome baby." He loved how she could find joy in the simplest little things. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes!" She said enthusiastically.

Deeks laughed. "Alright then, let's go eat."

"After dinner will you play dolls with me Daddy?"

"Of course sweetheart."

"Can we go to the beach sometime?" She was just full of requests tonight.

"Sure, we can go on the weekend. I'll ask Kensi to come too."

She'd only met Kensi once and she was nice but Jules didn't know if she liked that idea, she was hoping it would just be her and her Dad.

* * *

Kensi was still working on the paperwork, she had finished Deeks' reports and was almost done submitting them. Thinking that everyone had gone home already, she jumped when Hetty started speaking. "You're here rather late miss Blye."

She recovered fast. "I just wanted to get it all finished."

"I see. It seems to be taking you twice as long to finish your paperwork today."

"I'm just being extremely thorough."

"Well don't stay too late miss Blye, tomorrow's another day." She turned to leave but spoke again as she walked away. "You tell mister Deeks, he can finish his own paperwork at his own pace next time." Kensi wanted to say that she had offered but Hetty had already disappeared. She hoped he wouldn't get in trouble because they weren't supposed to be doing each others paperwork.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

I was having some trouble uploading the last chapter. I posted a chapter from my other story oops! Hahaha anyways hopefully this chapter will go smoother! So sorry for the delay! It's been awhile!

I'm trying to stay close to character but it's hard with a kid in the mix of the story so it's probably very ooc. This still feels like the set-up and getting to know the characters in this situation, hopefully I can work in some cases later on.

Takes place in season one.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

It was early on Saturday morning when he woke up. There wasn't an alarm or sunlight hitting his face for him to be awake this early but when he turned he saw a set of blue eyes, and the cause of him waking up, staring back at him. She was holding her stuffed animal and looking at him.

"Hi Daddy." She said with a huge smile.

"Hi baby girl. You're up super early. How come you always wake up early on the weekends and sleep in on school days?" He tickled her.

"Daddy, stop." She giggled.

"Huh? Never wants to get up for school." He continued and they were both laughing.

"I don't know why but we're going to the beach today right?!"

"And there it is." He smiled. "Yes, we are but it'll be a couple hours before we go sweetheart. It's much too early now."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Maybe go to sleep for another hour or so."

"No, I'm awake."

He laughed internally. Oh the joys of life with children he thought and closed his eyes for a second. Jules wanted to go to the beach today and he had decided to invite Kensi. The week had ended peacefully with no new cases and conversations with Kensi over their lunch breaks. She was the only one who knew about Jules now and he was happy they had met. He knew he could trust her and she didn't seem too angry that he hadn't told her sooner. Besides Jules, Kensi was the person he spent most of his time with, certainly the only adult he spent most of his time with. They'd been partners for a little while and spent all day together. She was his best friend and it was nice to be completely honest with her. He could tell she wasn't as ready to talk about her personal life much but he would get there.

"I love the beach." Her voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Me too, sweetheart."

"Is Kensi coming?"

"Mhm, she is." She stared at her stuffed animal and didn't say anything. "You okay Jules?" She nodded. "I can tell there's something." He prodded. "Does it have to do with Kensi?"

She looked at him. He always knew when something was up. "I don't know."

"Are you nervous to have her around because you don't know her well?"

"Yeah."

"That's how we get to know people though, right? We spend time to get to know them. She's super nice and a little shy around new people just like you." Kensi wasn't really shy but he knew she was nervous around children.

"How did you meet her again?" Jules asked.

"We work together."

"So she's a police person too?"

He smiled at the words she used. "Yeah, sort of."

"How long have you knowed her?"

"How long have I known her?" He repeated correcting the tense of her verb. "Uh about half a year maybe."

"Do you like her daddy?"

"Of course, she's my friend."

"Nooo! I mean 'like like' her?"

"Well she's kind, pretty and funny in her own way…" Even though he'd never admit that, he thought. What was he doing? This was his partner he was talking about and why was Jules questioning him like that. "Why? Do you 'like like' someone?"

"No!"

"No? What about Jake?" It was one of his friends' sons and he knew she liked spending time with him.

"He's my friend."

"And Kensi's my friend."

"Okay daddy." They looked at each other with a mutual understanding.

* * *

"Daddy, can you braid my hair?"

"You want it braided? I can try, you know Daddy isn't very good at this."

"It's okay. You do alright."

"So honest." He said more to himself than her as he started to braid her hair. He had watched a video online to learn how to do it after Jules had wanted the same hair-do as some of her classmates. He messed up a lot of the time, but her hair would resemble a braid eventually.

When he tied the hair tie at the end of her braid he turned her around to see how it looked. "It's a braid." He said pleased. "The beach awaits."

* * *

He brought his surfboard with him, on the off chance that he could take a few minutes to surf with Kensi there to watch Jules but he doubted it. He wasn't sure how comfortable Kensi felt around his daughter. They'd only met once and Jules was also a little nervous.

He took out his phone and saw that Kensi had texted him ten minutes ago saying she was just leaving her house so they found a spot and put their things down. He laid out the towels and emptied the bag of sand toys.

"Come here, munchkin. I gotta put on sunscreen."

"I don't like sunscreen." She didn't like the sticky feeling on her skin and she had to wait to start playing in the sand.

"I know you don't but we have to do it." She stood in front of him as he applied it.

"Why do we have to put it on?"

"Because otherwise you will burn. It protects us from the sun." He explained.

* * *

Kensi arrived and spotted them right away. Deeks was looking through bags and Jules was already busy playing in the sand building a sandcastle.

"Hey Kens." Jules turned around to look at them greeting each other.

"Hi guys."

"I'm so glad you could come."

"Me too. It's a beautiful day."

"It is. I thought we would hang here for a while and then go eat lunch."

"Sounds good."

They sat down on the towels and watched as Jules shoveled sand into a bucket.

"I'm so tired from yesterday." He said.

"Me too. I can't believe how long the day felt. Sometimes I need to take a break from the action but a week of paperwork is too much."

She stood up and pulled the sundress over her head, revealing the bikini she was wearing underneath. Deeks couldn't help but notice how stunning she really was. She was always beautiful but he loved seeing the muscles she'd gained from training for the job.

Trying not to stare, he moved his attention to Jules. She was in her own world creating a masterpiece with sand and then grabbed the sunscreen. He was applying it to his arms and then once Kensi was laying on her stomach to look out at the ocean, he turned to her again.

"I already put sunscreen on Jules…"

"You can't put sunscreen on me." Her statement cutting him off.

He chuckled. "It was worth a shot."

"I put it on at home." She gave him a smirk.

A silence fell between them as they took in the sun on their skins. The calm ocean breeze and the sound of waves crashing on the sand bringing so much peace after a long week. Kensi could see Deeks looking at the waves longingly. He was a surfer boy at heart, she laughed inside. She could imagine that it was hard to get in some surfing with a kid to take care of.

"You wanna surf don't you?" She'd seen the board lying behind them when she arrived. "Go, I'll stay with Jules."

"No, that's okay." He was quick to reply.

"Oh come on, it's not like you brought the board for nothing. Go!"

He laughed. "Thank you." He stood up right away and grabbed his board. "Jules, I'm going to catch a few waves." He let her know as he headed towards the ocean.

Kensi watched as he dove into the water with his board, paddling out there. She then turned her attention to Jules who was still busy playing in the sand. She didn't know if she should talk to her or let her be. She wasn't good with kids. "What are you building Jules?" She kicked herself mentally. That was a stupid question, it was obvious that she was building a sandcastle.

She turned to look at Kensi. "A castle and a village."

"That's cool. It's like a kingdom." No response came from Jules as she continued to work. The sand wasn't staying together well as she flipped the buckets onto the sand. The buildings were falling as the sand mixed in with the rest of the beach. "Maybe we can use some wet sand so it sticks together."

Kensi picked up one of the buckets and went down by the water. Jules watched her go and quickly grabbed another bucket to follow her. Filled up buckets of wet sand and water were brought back to their spot and together they silently built many sand-buildings. With lots of trips down to the water to get more wet sand, the village was coming along very nicely. Every so often Kensi could see Jules look over at her as she was busy to see if she was still working on the village but she didn't make a point to look at her when she did.

She wanted Jules to like her. Not just because she was her partner's daughter but because she felt she could relate to her. Her fondest memories were those with her father and seeing Deeks and Jules interact made her think of her own past.

* * *

They were now seated at a restaurant which was situated along the beach. She could imagine the sunsets would be beautiful with the view this restaurant had. Deeks and Jules were seated on one side of the booth and Kensi on the other.

"Have you been here before Kens?" Deeks' question brought her out of her thoughts.

"No, I haven't." She looked around.

"Well, it's one of Jules and my's favorites. Isn't it?" Jules nodded. "We always come here after a day at the beach."

"It's really cool." The restaurant was like a huge beach shack decorated with surfboards and tropical flowers. Things from the ocean. "I've always loved the beach."

"Me too. There's just so much peace, when it's not too busy."

She laughed. "I know what you mean."

"I used to bring Jules to the beach when she was a baby and being fussy. It would always calm her down."

"Really?" Jules asked.

"Yeah, we still come down to the beach when you're upset sometimes. It's just something about the ocean smell and the breeze with the sound of the waves crashing. It helps both of us."

Kensi knew exactly what he meant. She always came to the ocean when she was sad. It made her feel closer to her Dad and she could just think without getting disturbed. "Agreed."

"Daddy, can I have the cheeseburger?" Jules said softly as she pointed to the picture on the children's menu.

"Of course."

"I think I'll have that as well. I love cheeseburgers." Kensi said.

Jules smiled and looked at her dad, then moved closer to whisper something in his ear. Kensi was curious what was being said but by the look on Deeks' face, it was positive.

"Jules has an excellent point, you haven't tasted the best cheeseburger in the universe yet."

"How would you know?" She baited with a smirk.

"Because you've never been to one of our 'Friday Night Burger Parties'. We've been told they're the best homemade cheeseburgers to ever exist."

"They're amazing!" Jules said making Kensi smile.

"By whom? And who is invited to these parties?" She decided to keep up the gig.

"Important people, it's very exclusive."

"Mhm, such as…"

"Mr. Snuggles, Bailey the bear and baby doll..."

"And Barbie oh, oh, oh, and Simon the frog." Jules added enthusiastically.

Kensi tried to keep in her laugh as they told all about the stuffed animals and dolls that were part of their burger party. She could tell he was trying not to laugh as well because Jules was very serious and listening intently to his telling of the story.

"You have to come sometime." He said with all seriousness though.

"Yeah." Jules agreed.

She laughed. "I'd like that." Jules was getting more comfortable around her and slowly building up trust was something Kensi understood very well. It wasn't an easy task and she knew Jules was shy, but she hoped she would slowly be able to gain her trust eventually.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and followers! I'm glad I've been getting such a positive response but I'm still nervous about posting this story, I don't know why hahaha!

This chapter is a little shorter and takes place around the end of season one and beginning of season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

Kensi was driving home from work when her phone dinged, signaling an incoming text. She didn't know why but she felt the need to look at it so she pulled her car to the side and searched her bag to find it. The only people that really texted her on a daily basis were case-related messages or Deeks.

'I need a huge favor. Can you call me?' It seemed important.

She rang his phone number and he picked up right away. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, could you watch Jules tonight? Something came up at LAPD and I need to head over there right now. I don't have anyone to babysit her."

"Uh… sure." He caught her off guard.

"You don't have to. Just tell me."

"I can do it, no problem." She hoped. She'd only seen Jules twice and now she would have to spend the evening entertaining her.

"Thank you Kens. Alice the nanny is there, so Jules will have had dinner. She just needs to be in bed by like 7:45 to 8:00 o'clock then you can hang out and watch tv or something."

"Okay."

"Thank you so much."

* * *

She knocked on the door of Deeks' place and the woman she assumed to be Alice opened it.

"Hi."

"Hi, I'm Kensi."

"Come on in." She moved out the way. "I'm Alice, the nanny. I've heard so many good things, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"Same goes for you and it's nice to meet you too." The little girl was very busy drawing. "Hi Jules."

Jules gave her a wave back. "Hi."

"I have to run. I have an appointment, that's why I couldn't just stay with Jules tonight but she's had dinner and she's already in her jammies so it should all be fine." Alice grabbed all of her things.

"Perfect."

"I'll see you tomorrow Jules." She said as she opened the door.

"Bye." And then she was gone.

Kensi turned around and saw Jules looking at her expectantly. "Sooo…" Again what was she supposed to do? She walked over and sat next to Jules. "What are you drawing?"

"A horse."

"That's cool. Have you ever ridden a real horse?"

Jules shook her head. "No, but I've seen them." She continued to draw.

"I used to ride and do competitions."

"Really?" Kensi nodded. "That's cool."

On her way home Kensi had eaten dinner but then she remembered something. "Have you had dessert yet?"

"No."

"Do you know if there's anything for dessert?" Jules shook her head. "Alright, let's take a look." Kensi walked over the fridge and Jules came to stand next to her. They looked around until Jules found Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer.

"That one's my favorite." Kensi said excitedly.

"Mine too."

"Yeah? I mean I like all kinds of ice cream but this one is the best." Jules giggled. "Where are bowls?"

Jules pointed up to a cupboard above the toaster. "In there."

"Alright, I'll get the bowls, you get the spoons."

Moments later they were eating their ice cream in pleasant silence. They were seated at the small table in the kitchen, Jules' legs dangling and swinging back and forth as she enjoyed her dessert.

When they finished their ice cream Kensi put their bowls in the sink and looked at the time she still had an hour before Jules needed to head to bed. "You want to watch some tv?"

"Sure." They walked back to the coffee table and Jules sat on the floor with her drawing things.

Kensi flipped through the channels, she had no idea what Jules would watch. "Do you like this show?"

"No."

"This one?"

"No."

"Any of these?" She flipped up and down a set of children's channels but Jules just shook her head. She kept changing the channel until she landed upon America's Next Top Model and put it on.

"What's this?" Jules came and sat next to Kensi with a lot of curiosity.

"This show is called America's Next Top Model and these women are in a competition to become a model. So each week they have different assignments like photoshoots and then the person with the worst photo goes home."

"Who decides?"

"The judges." They watched as all the women got their hair and makeup done and then went to the shoot.

"I like that dress."

"Yeah it's a very pretty color. You like wearing dresses don't you?"

"Mhm, I wear them all the time. Skirts too."

"That's cool." As the episode continued Jules' eyes were glued to the screen. They were at the point where the judges were giving them critique. "Who do you think's going home?"

"Uhm… That one." She pointed at the screen. "The white shirt."

"Yeah I agree, she didn't do very well."

Kensi looked at her watch and saw that it was three minutes to eight and she was supposed to be in bed between 7:45 and 8:00 but Jules seemed to be enjoying it and Kensi had never heard her talk so much. As they had predicted the girl in the white shirt went home, her photo just wasn't good enough to stay. "Alright it's bedtime."

"It keeps going?" She was looking at the tv as a new episode was starting.

"Yes, there's lots of episodes but it's time for bed."

Jules walked to the bathroom with Kensi following her. "You need to brush your teeth." She grabbed the kids toothbrush and toothpaste she saw on the counter and handed them to Jules. "Can you do it?" She had no idea what a six year old could and could not do.

"Yeah." Jules methodically put the toothpaste on the toothbrush and then pushed the button to play the song.

"What?! It plays music? That's so cool."

Jules smiled as she was brushing her teeth. She then put her toothbrush back and turned towards Kensi. "I have to go to the toilet."

"Okay, I'll be outside."

When Jules came out of the bathroom they walked into her bedroom and she climbed into bed. "I like your room." Kensi said looking around.

"Thank you."

"Does your Dad read you a story before bed?"

"No, I read to him but that's okay."

"It is pretty late, isn't it?" She totally understood that Jules wouldn't want to read in front of her.

"Mhm."

"Alright then." Kensi walked towards the door. "Do you want the hall light on?"

"Yes and can you leave the door open a little?"

Kensi closed the door with a small crack. "Like this?"

"Yes."

"Okay, goodnight."

"Night."

Kensi walked back into the living room and sat down to watch more of America's Next Top Model until Deeks came home.

* * *

At 11:42 PM, she heard the key turn in the door and then he entered. "I brought beers."

"Hey. Late night." She stated.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. What a nightmare. Paperwork wasn't right, they couldn't find it, just this whole issue. Thanks for staying with Jules."

"No problem."

"Did she say anything or was it mostly just silence?" He chuckled, he knew how his daughter could be.

"She was actually pretty talkative I think."

"That's great. It can take her a really long time to open up sometimes but she's doing well with you." He looked at the tv as the commercials ended and the show started again. "Really America's Next Top Model?"

"Yeah, and Jules seemed to like it too."

"Woah, woah, woah, I don't need my daughter to get your bad tv show habits." He laughed.

She gawked. "I'll have you know that it's very entertaining." He handed her a beer. "Thanks."

"Alright, Let's see what it's all about."

"You're not going to regret it. It's a great show." She said and he decided to go along with it and enjoy his time with her.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you so much for the positive response! I have been trying to post chapters for this story once a week but I've already failed several times hahaha anyway here's a new chapter!

I have several chapters/scenes written but the difficult part is putting them in an order I want and that works for the story.

This chapter turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, I may have gone overboard fitting in several different scenes but I felt that I needed to fit it all in before a certain chapter and they kind of went together.

Takes place at the beginning of season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

"Let's practice your speech Jules." Deeks said when they put their cereal bowls on the coffee table.

"I don't want to." She said softly.

"We have to Jules. Let's go over it."

"No." She replied a little more forcefully.

"Come on."

"No!"

"Then we're going to get ready right now." He stood up and took her hand. "Let's go."

"Nooo!" She resisted his pull and tears started dropping down her face.

"Jules." He sighed. "It'll be done before you know it."

She stomped her feet in frustration. "I don't want to do it!" She was crying and hiccuping as she tried to catch her breath.

He looked at her and then crouched down in front of her, taking her hands. "Jules, you need to calm down." She shook her head as she was hyperventilating. "Jules, look at me! It's just a small speech, a couple of minutes and you're done."

"No! I don't want to go!" She flung her whole body onto the couch pulling away from his hands.

"Jules…" He came closer to her.

"Noooo!" She screamed.

"Baby." He waited for her to look at him. "Hey, you're gonna be okay." He tried to wipe her tears. "In a couple hours it'll all be over. The teacher is letting you go first so then you don't have to stress after that. If you stumble on a word just keep going. If you can't remember then it's okay to just read the card. It's all gonna be good. You can do anything."

Tears still coming down her cheeks, he wasn't sure what to do. He looked at the clock and knew there was no way he'd get her to school on time and work was not even in the question.

He took out his phone and contacted his partner. Jules was sobbing as he texted her.

'Hey, I'm gonna be late. Can you make up something to tell the team?'

'Sure no problem.' She replied quickly.

He decided to call Hetty and let her know as well. "Hello Mister Deeks, oh is that Juliana I hear?"

"Yes it is Hetty. She has a small speech today and can't seem to calm down so I will be late. I'm not sure when I'll get in."

"Alright Mister Deeks, no worries. And Kensi is going to tell the team a reason you're late." It wasn't a question but a statement. He didn't even want to know how she knew stuff without being told or hearing it herself but she just knew.

"Yes, she is. Thank you so much Hetty."

* * *

"No Deeks?" Sam said after nine o'clock had passed.

"He had car trouble." She said trying to make it sound as natural as possible.

"Couldn't you pick him up?" Callen questioned.

"I was already almost here when he texted." She said matter of factly. "Besides I'm not his babysitter, he can handle it himself."

"Yeah but you could help your partner out."

"I would have done it for Sam." Callen said, amused by her squirming.

"I've helped him before, just not today." She said defensively, little did they know she was already helping him by covering up why he wasn't there. She had already helped him many times and she didn't appreciate their attitude.

* * *

They were on a stakeout and Kensi was being very moody. Deeks had to deal with the two woman in his life taking their annoyances out on him.

"Aaaah these steakouts are torturous." He finally said.

"We've been here twenty minutes." She turned her head to face him.

"I know but I have to deal with you eating your snacks."

"Well I'm sorry, maybe if you would have let me pick a lunch spot, I wouldn't have been so hungry right now." Kensi retorted.

"Touché. I'm sorry the place looked cool, I couldn't have predicted that it would be that bad."

"You could have read the reviews." Kensi snapped and Deeks laughed. She really did get cranky if her food wasn't right. "What?" Kensi was annoyed. Why would he be laughing at her?

"Nothing." Still laughing and then they fell into a silence.

The suspect still hadn't appeared and Deeks was getting restless again. "Could you just sit still?" Kensi was irritated.

"I'm bored." He stated and she turned to him again and glared.

"You're such a baby." She stated. "Jules is more mature than you."

He laughed again and then sobered up. "The guy isn't going to show up."

"You don't know that." She snipped. "And why were you late this morning?" The thought came to her mind.

He sighed. "Jules had a complete breakdown about her little speech today. She was yelling and crying, just a complete panic attack. She was finally able to calm down and I ended up bringing her to school an hour late."

"She was so nervous."

"Yeah, I just hope it went well. I'm sure it did but I need to know."

"You can call Alice soon and talk to her."

"That's what I'm planning."

Her phone started ringing so she picked up. "Hi Kens, I found his truck parked near the beach so Callen and Sam are heading there now, you guys can come back to OSP."

"Okay, thank you Eric."

* * *

"Welcome back guys." Eric said when a shorter female stepped up next to him.

Hetty appeared out of nowhere. "This is intelligence analyst Nell Jones, she will be assisting us on this case."

"Nice to meet you." Kensi said.

"Nice to meet you too." Nell replied.

"Well, I'll go back to reviewing surveillance tapes I guess." Deeks stated and walked the short way to his desk.

Before he got to work though he checked the time and saw that it was just past three in the afternoon meaning Jules should have been picked up by now so he dialed the nanny's number.

"Hi Alice."

"Hi Marty."

"How's it going?"

"We're good, having a snack right now."

"I just wanted to talk to Jules for a moment."

"Here she is."

"Hi Daddy." She said with a cheerful voice.

"Hi sweetheart. How was your speech?"

"It was okay. I messed up on one part but I kept going."

"That's okay. You did it and you finished. I'm so proud of you and I'm glad it went well. Did you get to go right away?"

"Yeah."

"Oh good, I'm so happy you're done. We'll celebrate when I get home tonight okay?"

"Okay."

"Daddy's gotta go back to work now."

"Okay." She said again. "Wait! Can we have tacos tonight?"

"Sure baby."

"Wait! Are you gonna come home early?" She halted his goodbye once again.

"I don't know yet, but I'll try okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

"Oh and is Kensi coming over?" She asked at the last moment.

"I can ask her if you want, why?"

"She's nice."

He laughed. "She is. I'll see you later."

"Bye bye."

* * *

Callen and Sam arrived at the bullpen and sat down.

"Where's your partner?" Sam asked.

"On a phone call."

"With who?"

"I don't know." She answered with her eyes focused on her paperwork hoping they wouldn't see through the lie.

Callen and Sam looked at each other, there was definitely something the younger agents were keeping from them, they would just have to figure out what.

* * *

He arrived home, not early but also not late, and Alice left for the day. Once they were alone he sat down with her on the couch.

"Where's Kensi?"

"She had plans with her friends tonight."

"Oh." She looked disappointed.

"You like having her around, huh?"

"Yeah." She admitted.

"Me too."

"Oh Daddy I'm going to be in an art show. Can you come?" She was bubbling with excitement as she remembered and picked up the paper from the coffee table.

"Well let me see." He took the paper she held with all the information on it from her hands. It said that the opening was on Friday in two weeks at 5pm and that the prizes would be handed out for several different categories. With his unpredictable work schedule he knew he couldn't promise anything and he would have to ask Hetty if he could leave early. "I will try my absolute best to be there but otherwise Alice can take you, okay?" She nodded. She knew her dad's job could get in the way sometimes. "What did you enter in the art show?"

She immediately perked up and started telling her story. "Well I made a butterfly at school with paint, pencils and ink and the teacher said she wanted to enter it in an art show so she did."

"That's great baby." He kissed the top of her head. "Can't wait to see it."

"Are you going to invite Kensi to my art show?"

"If you want me too."

"Yeah, I want you too."

"Alright who's hungry?"

"Meeee!" She yelled as they headed to the kitchen. "Come on Monty, it's dinner time!" The dog immediately followed sitting by his bowl, waiting for his dinner to be served.

* * *

Kensi went to get some drinks from the bar and when she came back she saw all the girls huddled around a phone.

"Who's Deeks?" Tiffany asked with Kensi's phone in her hand.

"Nobody." She rushed to say as she grabbed the phone from her hands.

"Are you seeing him?" Mandy asked.

"The name is kind of interesting, it is a guy right?" Mindy wondered.

"Yes, it's a guy and no, I'm not seeing him."

"Is he cute? I bet he's cute."

"How do you know him? Where did you meet?"

She was flustered by the amount of questions being asked. She wasn't prepared for the gossip the cupcake girls could whip up.

"He's just a coworker."

"Just a coworker?" Tiffany said skeptically.

"Yes." She insisted.

"Just a coworker who texts you at midnight?" Tiffany said looking at her watch.

Kensi looked down at the messages they must have seen when she left her phone on the table.

'Hey, you up?'

'I'm watching a horror movie. Your spot on the couch misses you. If you know what I mean.' The winking emoji finishing off that message.

'Oh wait you're probably still out with your friends.'

'Tell them your handsome partner says hi.'

'Are any of them single?

'Just kidding!'

'Don't worry Fern. I only have time for one lady in my life.' He meant Jules, Kensi thought but her friends wouldn't read it as that.

'I'm bored, in case you couldn't tell.' He added a laughing emoji.

'Let me know when you get home safely.'

Leave it to Deeks to text her semi-inappropriate messages when she was with her friends. He often pushed her buttons and this would just give her friends more to gossip about.

* * *

He was watching tv, waiting to hear back from Kensi. Jules had gone to sleep hours ago and he was bored. He longed for a night out with his friends but between his line of work and a kid, he didn't get that opportunity very much. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Jules came out of her room with her blanket.

"Daddy? I don't feel so good."

"What's wrong?"

"My tummy hurts."

"Come here, sweetheart." She approached him with her red little cheeks and felt her forehead. "You have fever, baby girl." She was burning up. "Have a seat, I'm going to get you medicine and then you can sleep next to me and wake me when you need me okay?" She nodded and he walked to the kitchen to get children's medicine and a glass of water.

"My tummy really hurts daddy."

"Okay, take the medicine and then you'll feel a little better."

"I don't like that medicine."

"I know but it'll help."

He poured the liquid into the tiny cup and she drank it quickly. "Tastes yucky." She made a face of disgust.

"Drink some water, little sips." She did so and Deeks stood up. "Okay, let wrap the blanket around you and I'll carry you to the room." He picked her up, walked to his bed and put her down again. "Daddy's going to get the medicine and cup of water and be right back okay?"

She didn't respond as he quickly left the room to retrieve the things he'd need during the night. When he came back, Jules looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Daddy?!" She said panicked "I'm gonna be…" Sick. She threw up all over herself.

He reached for the nearest bowl-like item and grabbed the little trash can. "Take this." She was throwing up more. He hated seeing his little baby like this, she wasn't her cheery self.

"You think you're done?" She nodded weakly and he took the trash can away. "You feel any better?"

"Yeah."

"We need to get you cleaned up and some more medicine cause you threw it all up."

"Again?"

"Yep, gotta take it. Let's get you some new jammies and I'm going to change the bedding."

He stripped the sheets from the bed and put it in the wash, then helped her change and clean up with a washcloth so that he could get her to sleep quickly.

"Did you feel sick at all today?"

"No."

"It came quickly huh?"

"Yeah." He layed towels down on her side of the bed and laid her down.

"You can wake me at any time okay?"

"Okay." She nodded. "Can you stay home with me tomorrow?" She asked softly.

"Of course baby, I'll take the day off."

* * *

She was listening to Mindy talk about the guy she was dating when her phone buzzed on the table. She turned her phone over and looked at the screen. It was another text message from Deeks.

'Hey, how's it going? My evening hasn't been very good.'

Her friends silently communicated with each other as she was distracted by texting with Deeks.

"How's Deeks?" Tiffany asked but she didn't seem to hear them.

"Kensi?" Kat tried.

"Mhm?" She looked up at all her friends staring at her. "What?"

"Deeks seems to have your full attention."

"Uhm…" She said as she read his next text.

'Jules just threw up all over herself.'

"I'm sorry I have to uhm…"

"What's wrong Kensi?" Kat asked when she saw her friend was frazzled.

"Deeks' daughter is sick."

"He has a kid!" Tiffany shouted.

"Ugh he probably has a wife." The other Tiffany stated.

"Why would he be texting Kensi about it though?" Mandy pondered. They started a side conversation and the alcohol wasn't helping tamper down the conspiracies they were coming up with about Deeks' life.

"He's a single dad." She sighed, she wanted them to stop talking about him.

"Single being the operative word." Tiffany said cheekily.

"I need to make a call." She stood and left the table reading more of his texts.

'I'm staying with her tomorrow. Can you tell them I'm sick or something? Anything?"

'Of course.' She texted back and then dialed his number.

"Hey, how is she?" She said when he picked up.

"She's sleeping right now." He whispered as he walked out of the bedroom. "Little stomach bug came quickly, she seemed perfectly fine before."

"She's had quite a day today."

"Hopefully she'll be a little better tomorrow."

"Do you want me to bring you dinner or something from the grocery store?"

"If you don't mind, I could use some fresh bread and milk but it can wait till tomorrow. I don't need anything tonight, thank you though."

"Okay."

"Are you still out with your friends?"

"Yes, I'm outside right now though, it's so loud in this place."

"Well, you should go back inside and stay with your friends, you don't want to stand alone."

"I'm a big girl Deeks, I can take care of myself."

"I know, just be safe." She was surprised by his worry for her but she understood why, it was a dangerous world especially for a woman alone at night. As a cop he had seen many bad things and with his daughter, these were things he thought about.

"Okay, I'll go back inside. Tell Jules, to get well soon."

"I will."

"Goodnight Deeks."

"Night Kens."

She walked back to her friends and they all looked at her expectantly, to hear about her phone call. "Sooo?" Tiffany started.

"So, what?" Kensi replied knowing exactly what they were talking about.

"How is everything?" Tiffany asked sincerely.

"She's okay, sleeping right now."

"How old is she?" Kat had always had a love for children.

"Six."

"You guys seem pretty close, do you spend a lot of time with them?"

"I do."

"I'm glad you've found people to hang out with when we're not here."

She laughed, her bestfriends didn't live in Los Angeles and she didn't get to see them very often so of course Mandy would joke about needing other friends beside them.

"Yeah, I'm doing good."

"That's great Kens." Kat smiled.

"You're gonna end up married to the guy one day, aren't you?"

Kensi blushed, it wasn't like she hadn't thought about dating Deeks, but they couldn't, they were partners and it was against regulations. "No, I'm not."

"You just watch." Tiffany bet.

* * *

The next morning, she was working on some paperwork when Callen and Sam entered the bullpen.

"No Deeks again?" Sam looked at the empty desk next to him.

"He's sick." She replied quickly.

"First car trouble and now he's sick."

"What's really going on Kensi?" Callen added.

"Nothing, he's having a bad week." She wasn't lying about that, he was having a bad week with Jules.

"It's been going on longer than a week, there's something off about him." Sam wondered out loud. "You've been quiet lately too. What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Sam and Callen gave each other a look and she rolled her eyes. "Really, I'm good."

"You just seem different. You and Deeks seem to be getting along much better than before."

"I guess we're just getting used to each other and gaining more trust every day."

"That's good." Callen was glad their partnership was working out a little better.

"You seeing someone?" Sam asked her.

"No." She was getting flustered by all the personal questions. They didn't really talk about their personal lives much. They knew about her 'no-second-date-rule' so why would they think she was seeing anyone. "What's with all the questions?" She laughed nervously.

"Can't I just show interest in my fellow teammates?"

"Now you sound like Deeks."

She and Sam held a staring contest until he finally gave in. "Alright, I'll stop." He'd keep an eye on the two younger teammates and figure out what was going on eventually.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows! This chapter is a little on the short side but we learn a little more about the characters.

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

The team arrived back at the mission and walked to their desks. They were caught up in a car chase, shootout and explosion all in one day. Hetty joined the team in the bullpen. "I think you all deserve to go home and relax after a day like today. Paperwork can wait until tomorrow." Deeks looked at his watch and saw that it was 3:56pm. He had no idea if Hetty knew about the event tonight but he knew he was very lucky that he was going to be able to go to Jules' art show.

"It's been a while since we've gotten to go home this early. Maybe I'll cook some dinner with my kids."

"That sounds like a good idea." Kensi said.

"Well, have a nice weekend everyone." Sam said walking away.

"See ya Monday." Callen followed.

Kensi was packing up her bag for the weekend, stuffing lots of files and her computer in the different sections.

"Do you have any plans for tonight Kensilina?" Deeks asked as she laughed.

"Don't call me that and no, I do not."

"How would you like to join me and Jules to go to her art show?"

"I would like that very much."

"I had special orders to invite you."

"Well her wish has been granted."

"She's super excited but I've already prepared her that she may not win a prize. She said she did something with a butterfly and pens, pencils and paints, I don't know, anyway she's been looking forward to it all week."

* * *

They walked into the art gallery and there were tons of people of all ages there. They decided to walk around and look at all the art as they looked for Jules' piece. All the art seemed really good and Deeks was worried she'd be disappointed if she didn't win. They were casually strolling past the art when Jules called out. "There's mine!" She pulled her Dad along with her hand. They stopped in front of a large square canvas with a beautiful, colorful and very detailed butterfly on it.

"You made this Jules?" He was stunned. This art piece was unbelievable for her age.

"Yep, do you like it?"

"Do I like it? I love it. Jules, this is incredible." Her smile was the biggest Kensi had ever seen.

He crouched down so he could be on the same eye-level as her. "It's amazing. What materials did you use?"

"I used paint for the background and the butterfly and then I used pencils and ink to make all the details." She said giving a thorough description.

"How long did this take to create?"

"A long time. Other kids have mostly weekly assignments but the teacher lets me make what I want." She told them.

"Wow princess, that's amazing!"

He looked at the painting with amazement. His little girl had done that and he couldn't be more proud.

She walked ahead of them with Kensi and Deeks following her as they continued to look around. "I had no idea she could do this. I mean, I know she's always loved drawing but…" He had no words.

"She's got real talent." They walked around until the speaker announced it was time to give away the prizes. They stepped into the room with the stage and others also gathered around. Jules stood in front of her Dad and nervously switched the balance from leg to leg. The woman on stage welcomed everyone to the art show and said that they would give first, second and third place for each category. The woman announced that they would start with the category of under the age of thirteen.

"This was a very tough category with such a huge range in age and everyone in this category did a wonderful job. The winning artists are incredibly talented so let's get started." Another person stepped onto the stage with what looked like certificates and ribbons. The woman started to speak again. "Alright drumroll please. The third place goes to Carter Jacobson for his piece called City of Los Angeles." The boy started walking up the stairs to the stage. He looked to be about thirteen years old and everyone applauded. Once he had left the stage again the woman started. "Second place goes to Juliana Deeks..." Deeks started cheering and pushed Jules to walk towards the stage. "...for her piece called Butterfly." The woman continued. Jules climbed the steps nervously and looked at everyone staring at her. She was handed a certificate and a ribbon and then shook the woman's hand. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." They turned and a photographer took their picture. She then left the stage again as fast as she could and walked back to her Dad and Kensi.

Deeks crouched down and she ran into his arms. "I'm so proud of you Jules." She pulled back slightly to look at his face. "Second place. That's crazy."

"Congrats Jules." Kensi put her hand on her shoulder.

"Let me see what you got." He said taking a look at the certificate. "Juliana Deeks." He read off of it. "I'm so happy for you sweetheart." He kissed the side of her head.

They continued to give out prizes to several categories. "Thank you all for coming. Thank you to all the wonderful artists for creating all the wonderful pieces of art." Everyone applauded again and started to walk around the art gallery.

"I want to take a picture of you in front of your art piece." Deeks said moving back over to her art. "Okay stand right there. Hold up your certificate." She did as he said and he got his phone out and took a few pictures.

"Let me get one of the both of you." Kensi offered. Deeks handed over his phone and crouched down next to Jules. She was taking a few pictures when a woman came up to them and introduced herself.

"Hi I'm Juliana's art teacher, Anne."

Deeks shook her hand. "Marty, Juliana's Dad."

She went on to shake Kensi's hand. "Kensi."

"Well I just wanted to say congratulations Juliana. Your butterfly is beautiful."

"Thank you." She said shyly.

"You have a very talented daughter." Looking at Deeks and Kensi. She must have assumed that Kensi was her mother.

"She's amazing." He said looking at Jules and she looked back at him with a huge smile.

"I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Bye."

"I think we should go out for dinner to celebrate. Where do you want to go?"

"The pizza place."

"You up for pizza Kens?"

"Always."

* * *

Once they were seated and got their pizza, Jules started talking. "I can't believe I won."

Deeks smiled. "Me either, well actually I can! Your artwork was amazing Jules. I'm so proud of you."

Her smile was huge. "Finally something I'm good at."

Kensi saw Deeks' smile drop a little and wondered what that was about but he recovered quickly. "Everyone has something they're good at and you've found yours. Maybe we can find an art class or something for after school."

"That's fun." She said as she took a huge bite from her pizza.

"Yeah, that would be fun." He smiled at Kensi. "Did you like to do art when you were younger Kens?"

"I did but I was never very good. Nowhere near as good as Jules." Kensi complimented making her smile.

"Well I definitely wasn't an artist." He laughed.

"Maybe my mom was an artist." Jules said without much thought but it was obviously on her mind.

Deeks looked sad but spoke again. "Yeah, maybe she was." He said softly. "Anyway, today has been a great day." He lightened the mood. It had been the perfect ending to a long day and he was thankful he could be there to be a part of it.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you for the nice reviews! Somehow these chapter always seem to get posted midweek because I can't seem to finish it before the end of the weekend sorry!

It's Christmas time (at the end of summer)! At least in this chapter it is hahaha! I'm also introducing Deeks' mom a little earlier than on the show because I feel like she would have been in the picture more to help with Jules than we saw on tv. So this chapter will mention scenes from the episode Disorder (2x11).

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

For the past few weeks Kensi had been very quiet and distant. He had tried to talk to her, invite her over and make sure she was okay but he was afraid he'd scared her off. She had been spending a lot of time with him and Jules and they were getting along so well but maybe she'd realized how close she was getting to them and freaked out. Like the rest of the women in his life, she was backing away.

She looked so disappointed in herself, he thought. She had failed in helping her fiancé years ago and now she had tried with Talbot but he was just pretending. They were at the end of the pier, wrapping up the case and talking. Sam and Callen reassured her that she had done well and couldn't have seen it coming, then turned and left.

"So you still going to Seattle tonight?" He asked tentatively.

"No Deeks, I'm not going to Seattle."

"Wanna join me?"

"I thought you had a date." Deeks had said he had a date but she knew full well that it was with Jules.

"I do but we'd love for you to join."

"Are you sure Deeks? I wouldn't want to intrude on your dinner date."

"Trust me, you won't. She'd love for you to come."

They made their way to Kensi's car and she let him drive without argument. She was exhausted and all her muscles hurt.

He drove to his house to pick up Jules and when Kensi saw Jules in a fancy Christmas dress, she wondered what to do. "Should I go home to change?" She wasn't sure if it was going to be fancy dinner.

"No, you're good. I'm not changing either. Jules just likes to dress up."

"Hi sweetheart." He greeted as she came over and Alice said her goodbyes.

"Hi Jules." Kensi said and she timidly waved back.

"Ready to go Jules?" Deeks asked.

"Yeah."

Once they got in the car and he started driving, she wanted to know what was happening.

"Where are we going?" Kensi asked.

"Tell her where we're going Jules?" Deeks handed the question off to her.

"We're going to help give food at the homeless… what is it called again daddy?"

"Shelter, the homeless shelter."

She was surprised that that was their date. "Cool."

When they arrived, Angela got them santa hats and put them right to work. They served food and made small talk with some of the people and as she watched him interact with some of them, she was amazed. He could make everyone smile, saying exactly what they needed to hear. Just when she thought she knew everything about him, he turned out to be even nicer. He liked helping people in all aspects and she admired that very much.

Once the majority of people had gotten food, Deeks served up a plate for Jules.

"He's never brought any other women here, except Jules of course, you must be very special to him." Angela told her as she watched Deeks helping Jules find a seat. Kensi smiled to her, Deeks was very special to her too.

"How long has he been coming here?" She wondered because the people seem to know them.

"Since he was a teenager, with his mom. Sometimes he misses a Christmas but he usually makes it up in January then."

"That's amazing."

"How long have you been together?"

"We're not together like that but I've known him almost a year."

"Well, he doesn't bring just anyone here and we're grateful you could join us."

She was grateful Deeks had invited her too. Without him she'd be sitting at home in a dark apartment, drinking till the pain disappeared and she didn't mean the head injury. Instead she was spending time with him and his beautiful daughter, helping the homeless get a nice Christmas dinner. She felt loved, in a friendship kind of way of course, she thought. She wasn't alone for the first time in a long time on Christmas eve.

* * *

Once they got home, Jules put her jammies on, decorated some cookies and put them out with milk for Santa. Deeks read her a Christmas story on the couch and then she went to bed. Kensi waited for him to come back from Jules' room so she could say goodbye and head home.

"Thank you for including me tonight. I had a great time."

"I'm glad. I wouldn't have liked for you to be alone tonight, especially with the head injury."

"I'm fine Deeks."

"You have a concussion, you should stay here tonight so I can make sure you're okay. You can take the bed and I'll take the couch. Then I'll wake you every few hours just to see that the concussion hasn't affected you too much."

"I don't know."

"Pretty please." Deeks begged with sad puppy eyes. "I happen to have beer and ice cream, your favorite ice cream, Jules told me."

She smiled. "Okay."

"Really?

"Yeah."

"Okay, great. I thought I had scared you off. You've been a little distant lately." He said quickly without realizing.

She looked shocked. "Oh, no, that's not it at all." She hesitated about telling more but decided she could trust him with it. "December is just a hard month for me."

"Oh good, I mean that I didn't scare you off, not that it's a hard month." He clarified making her smile.

"It's not just Jack… but my father died when I was fifteen. It was four days before Christmas so the holiday has never really been the same since… until I met Jack and we made new traditions. The holiday was joyful again but then he had to leave on Christmas morning."

"I'm so sorry that happened Kensi. It puts a real damper on holiday."

"Tell me about it."

"So did you cancel your ticket to Seattle or did you lose all the money?" He changed the subject.

She sighed. "I was never going anywhere Deeks. I don't have any family… It's just me." She said softly and looked sad.

"Well it's a good thing you're not alone then. In fact it's going to be so busy with Jules bouncing off the walls, opening all her presents that you're gonna wish you were home alone." She laughed. He always knew exactly what to say to cheer her up. "Let me get the beer and ice cream. Here take this blanket." He took the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped her in it making her laugh again. When he came back, he handed her a beer. "You probably shouldn't be having alcohol but you can have one."

"Wow, thanks dad!" She said with emphasis because he was being overprotective.

"Just looking out for my partner." He laughed. "Here's your ice cream and I'll put on Miracle on 34th street."

She smiled for what felt like the hundredth time today. He had scoffed at the idea of beer, ice cream and a movie earlier this afternoon but was doing what she wanted now.

Over the course of the movie she had slowly sank further and further into the couch and at some point, turned to lie down on her side with her head resting on the side of the couch. She was exhausted and the headache wasn't helping. When the movie ended he turned to her again.

"I still have some presents to wrap." He stated.

"Oh I have a bag of presents in the trunk of my car for you guys."

"You didn't have to get us anything."

"Well, I did."

"It's a good thing you're still here then. I'll go get them and put them under the tree."

When he came back moments later, she was asleep. He'd let her rest before waking her up to check on her. He had a lot of things to do before he could go to bed.

* * *

"Hey Kens." He said softly as she started to stir. "You've been asleep a couple hours so I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm okay." She said groggily.

"Okay, good. I'm going to go to sleep now too. You can still take the bed if you want."

"I'm good here." She looked around. "Santa already came." She said when she saw the presents under the tree.

"He did." He chuckled. "Alright, see you in a couple of hours. Jules will be up bright and early."

"Night."

"Merry Christmas Kensi."

"Merry Christmas." She whispered back.

* * *

The sun was barely coming up when Jules opened her eyes. She walked across the hallway seeing parts of the tree and some presents underneath, then opened the door to her dad's room.

"Daddy?" She asked and he started to stir.

"Hi baby girl."

"It's Christmas!"

He laughed. "Is it?"

"Yes!" She said excitedly.

"Did you already see some presents?" She nodded. "You want to get up and go look." She nodded. "Okay, but let's be quiet, Kensi's probably still sleeping."

They made their way to the living room and once she say the tree her face lit up.

"There's so many presents!" She could barely keep her voice at a whisper because she was so excited. Kensi was still sleeping on the couch but didn't wake up.

"Look the cookies and milk are gone." Deeks pointed out.

"Santa had them." She said in awe as he crouched down next to her.

"Yes he did. Let me take a picture, stand next to it." She put on the biggest smile as he took the photo. "Speaking of milk, do you want some?" She nodded. "Daddy needs coffee."

They walked to the kitchen to get milk and start the coffeemaker. Jules was jumping up and down with pure joy waiting for her dad to finish.

"When can we open presents?"

"Once Kensi wakes up."

"When is she going to wake up?"

He looked at the clock and it was 6:16 AM. "If she's not up by six thirty, you can wake her up."

"How long is that?"

"Fourteen minutes."

Once Deeks' coffee was ready, he poured it into his cup and took a sip. "How long do we have to wait now daddy?"

He checked the clock again. "Thirteen minutes." He chuckled to himself. Waiting to open presents was just torture for little kids.

"That's so long."

"I know but we need to let her rest a little longer."

He looked out to the living room and saw Kensi stand up. It was only high enough for him to see so he couldn't wait to watch Jules' reaction. She stepped into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.

"Morning Kens." Deeks smiled as Jules turned around to see.

"Kensi! Did you see the presents?!" Jules practically shouted.

"I did." Kensi laughed. It had been a long time since she'd experienced a house filled with this much excitement and joy for the holidays.

"Can we open presents now?"

"Yes you may." She ran to the living room waiting for her dad and Kensi to walk out as well.

"Want some coffee?" Deeks offered.

"Yes please." She took it gratefully.

"How's the head?" He asked as he took a long sip of his coffee.

"Fine." She smirked. "You're taking your time on purpose to tease her aren't you?" She suspected.

"Am I?" He questioned back cheekily but before he could say more Jules' voice came from the other room.

"Daddy!"

"Coming!"

They made their way to the living room and Kensi sat down on the couch while Deeks joined Jules to sit on the floor in front of the tree. He handed her presents to open and then watched the joy on her face when she saw what she got.

She opened presents from Santa and from her father and then some from Kensi. Kensi had given her some art supplies since she'd seen that Jules was an artist.

"Thank you Kensi." Jules said sweetly and then quickly walked over to Deeks and whispered into his ear.

He stood up and searched for a gift for Kensi and joined her on the couch. "Jules come here. It's your present for Kensi, let's watch her open it." She came to stand next to them to watch.

Kensi took the lid off the box and moved the tissue paper to the side. "Oh wow Jules, this is beautiful!" Kensi took the small canvas out of the box. It was a painted flower in the same style as the butterfly from the art show. "Thank you so much Jules, I love it."

"You're welcome." She smiled and Kensi held out her arms for a hug. Jules wrapped her arms around Kensi as well and Deeks couldn't take his eyes off them. This had been one of the best Christmases he'd had and he knew exactly what the reason was. His partner was the new person at their little family event and he couldn't be happier.

The rest of the morning, they ate pancakes and opened more gifts. Jules was so happy with everything and kept herself entertained for a while.

"Sorry you didn't get very much Kens." Deeks said when he sat down on the couch next to her.

"No, it's perfect. I haven't gotten this much in years." She chuckled softly but he could see some sadness as well.

She turned as if she wanted to say something but said nothing so he pretended not to notice and turned to Jules. "Well we have to wait to open the rest when grandma gets here."

"Ah come on!" Jules said dramatically. There were quite a few gifts left under the tree but they always waited to open more when his mother was there.

"Deeks…" Kensi tried again.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for everything. Today has been amazing and I'm so glad I could be a part of it."

"I'm glad you're here too."

She went to stand up. "I should probably get going, I don't want to invade the time with your family."

"No, you have to stay for dinner." He rushed to say. "It's an early dinner. You can go home after that, I know you're tired."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Yeah Kensi." Jules said. "There's still presents to open!" Kensi smiled knowing all the presents were for Jules. She had gotten more comfortable with her over the past two days. Talking more in front of and to her, showing her presents and thanking her for the things she'd given her without Deeks' prompting. It had been a really nice morning and she felt grateful to be included.

* * *

They cleaned up the wrapping paper and got changed. Jules put on a different fancy dress than the day before and Kensi got some clothes from the go-bag in her car. A while later the doorbell rang and Jules jumped up. The moment Deeks opened the door, the loudness turned up a notch.

"Grandma!" Jules shouted and ran into her arms.

"My little Jules!" Roberta wrapped her arms around her.

"Hi Momma." Deeks hugged her as he came over.

"Martin." She touched his cheek and then went in for the hug. "I've missed you guys."

"I want you to meet someone." Deeks said as he stepped closer to Kensi. "Mom, this is Kensi, my partner from work. Kensi, this is my mom, Roberta."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Kensi said nervously as they shook hands.

"Do you cook?"

"No."

"Do you want to learn?"

"No." Kensi said quickly.

Roberta looked at Deeks and then spoke. "I like her."

"Yeah, me too."

"Well, let me start up the dinner and then I have some presents to hand out."

* * *

The food was cooking, the presents were opened and the youngest among them was basking in joy.

"Sorry I didn't have anything for you Kensi." Roberta apologized.

"No worries, I wasn't supposed to be here this long but Deeks insisted and forced me to stay." She said with feigned annoyance and then laughed.

"Oh please, more like begged me to let you stay."

"Hardly." She scoffed.

"Really? You were asleep before I could even say a word." He chuckled.

His mother laughed with them as well. She enjoyed the banter between the partners and was happy to see her son with a friend his age. "It's always good to have more company for the holidays." Roberta lovingly put her hand on Kensi's back and then stood up. She decided to check on the dinner. "Martin, I could use some help."

"Of course." He followed her into the kitchen.

"So tell me about her."

"Who?"

"What do you mean 'who'? Kensi!"

"What about her?"

"How long have you guys been together?"

"As partners…" He stated clearly. "Almost a year."

"Jules seems to like her."

"Yeah she does. They're really sweet together." They both looked out through the open window from the kitchen that had a view of the living room where Kensi was taking a toy out of the package for Jules and they were talking and laughing.

"You've never brought a girl home, ever."

"She's not my girlfriend if that's what you're getting at."

"I'm just saying. You've never invited anyone to anything before but you did invite her, she must be very special."

"She had a rough day yesterday and she has no family so I invited her over."

"What about her mother and father?"

"Her father passed away when she was young and… I don't know what happened to her mom, but she's never talked about her."

"I'm glad you did Martin. Nobody should be alone for the holidays."

"Yeah… and she is special." He admitted as he looked out to his partner and daughter getting along. "She's my best friend."

Roberta watched her son. Even if he wasn't willing to admit it, she knew he was falling madly in love with his partner.

Moments later, Kensi and Jules walked into the kitchen. "Jules wants to show you guys something."

The little girl happily demonstrated how one of her new toys flew across the kitchen.

"Wow baby! That's amazing!"

"Very cool Jules." Roberta said as she took a dish out of the oven. "I think it's dinner time!"

"Yay!"

Kensi stood there and watched as the little family moved around the kitchen with happiness. There was a time when she was this happy on Christmas Day with her mom and dad. The three of them together as a family, not broken and apart yet. The memories were bittersweet to think about but before she could dwell on them for too long, she got pulled out of her thoughts when Roberta started talking to her.

"Could you carry the bread rolls Kensi?"

"Yes of course, sorry." She walked over to the counter to pick up the bowl.

"You okay?" Deeks asked gently.

"Yeah, I'm good." She smiled genuinely. "Really good."

At dinner, she listened to Roberta tell stories of when Deeks was a little boy and by the look on Jules' face, she was enjoying it as well. The food was great and the company even better. This was definitely a Christmas worth remembering.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

So sorry this took so long! It has been a rough couple of months. There hasn't been much time and then there was a death in the family. It's been hard to really be motivated about anything but I have finished my exams and now have vacation so there's time to catch up.

Hopefully this long chapter will kind of make up for it. The case is a little weak but it focuses a lot on Deeks and Kensi and their relationship as partners or maybe some hints of more… but not really ahahaha! They're still partners/friends!

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

Kensi tried calling Deeks for the third time without answer. He was supposed to be up by now so she wondered if the sound on his phone was off.

She texted him. 'Did you still need a ride to work? Let me know.'

She waited for a response but when she finished getting ready, nothing had come in still, so she decided to drive to his place early just in case he had slept past his alarm.

* * *

Knocking on the door woke him from his sleep. Looking at the time, he immediately jumped up. He was going to be late, he must've slept through his alarm, three missed calls from Kensi, Kensi he thought. The knocking reminded him why he woke up in the first place so he rushed to open the door.

"Kens." He walked away to Jules' room quickly.

"Good morning." Kensi was left to close the door.

He came back out of her room practically running towards the kitchen. "I need to get her breakfast ready."

"I can do that, just go get ready."

"Okay, she likes fruit loops with a little milk and then a glass of juice." He started towards his bedroom to get ready when Jules called for him. "Daddy!"

"Coming!" He went back to her.

* * *

"Hey Jules." Kensi said as she was coming over to the couch and Deeks finally went to get ready after helping Jules.

"Hi."

"I have your breakfast right here." She pointed to the bowl on the coffee table. "I'll turn on the tv." Jules took a seat on the floor as she started to eat her cereal.

When Jules finished, she stood and turned towards her. Jules stared at her for a moment.

"Something wrong?"

"No." Jules said. "I like your necklace."

Kensi instinctively reached to pull it from under her shirt. She didn't think Jules could have even really seen it to give her a compliment but probably just wanted to start a conversation. "Thank you. My dad gave it to me."

"My dad gave me a necklace once too."

"Yeah? Dads are the best huh?" Jules nodded in agreement.

"Can you braid my hair Kensi?" She fidgeted as she took two hair bands off her wrist.

"Of course, why don't you have a seat right here." She patted the spot next to her on the couch. "Would you like one or two braids?"

"Two." She started working on them quietly. Jules had trusted her enough to ask for her help with this and she felt a sense of accomplishment. Deeks had told her that she was very shy and could take a long time to warm up to someone but Jules was doing very well in Kensi's eyes.

The silence was gone quickly when Jules stated her observations. "We never have girls over."

Kensi wondered where this was going. "Your nanny Alice is a girl and she's here everyday." She wanted to say woman but stuck with Jules' words.

"I know but she always leaves when Daddy comes home."

"That's true but sometimes your Grandma comes over and she's a girl."

She seemed to think about it. "But never someone like your age."

Kensi doubted she even knew her age but it was true that Alice and her grandma were not the same age as Kensi. "Has your dad never had a girlfriend?"

She thought about it again and shook her head. "No, never. You're the only one."

Kensi was glad Jules couldn't see her face because she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. She wasn't Deeks' girlfriend but Jules had obviously been thinking about the fact that she was the only girl that came over sometimes. Kensi tied the hair band at the end of her hair. "How about we have a girls day, just you and me?" Kensi suggested.

"What would we do?"

"I don't know. Anything you want."

"Could we get our nails done?" She said with excitement bubbling over the edge.

"Sure." Kensi chuckled. This was not what Kensi would have expected or wanted for herself but if it made Jules happy she would do it

"When can we have our girls day?"

"Maybe this weekend? We'll have to ask your dad when he's in a better mood." They both chuckled at that.

Their laughing ceased when Deeks came rushing into the living room. "You ready Jules?"

"Ready!"

"Okay."

He got the booster seat from next to the door and put it in Kensi's car. They dropped Jules off and drove to work and once they arrived he threw a blanket over Jules' seat so nobody would see it.

* * *

"We have a missing NCIS agent, last seen at his home by neighbors."

"He knows a lot of sensitive intel. It is vital that we find him and assure that no information has gotten out."

"His wife is in the boatshed right now. She left the house before him, they were supposed to meet for lunch but he never showed up."

"Which do you prefer?" Callen asked Kensi but Deeks jumped in.

"Boatshed!"

"We'll take the boatshed." Sam said smugly.

"Oh come on." Deeks shouted as the other two walked out of OSP. "See what I did there?" Deeks said to Kensi.

"You wanted to search the house."

"Exactly and they fell for it."

"It probably just saves them hours of traffic."

"I like to think it was because of me."

* * *

They arrived in the quiet neighborhood and found the house.

The door had visibly been kicked in so they entered with caution.

Weapons were raised and they cleared the rooms. The house was a mess, everything on the floor and all the drawers emptied. They moved upstairs to clear that area as well and didn't see anything threatening.

"Okay, let's look for anything that looks out of place."

"Really? Everything is out of place."

"I'm sure whoever was here found what they were looking for, looks like nothing has been left unturned but we have to try."

They decided to start downstairs, sorting through mail and looking for any electronic devices but everything seemed to be cleared.

She looked around the kitchen, the door to the backyard didn't look like it had been opened then decided to check the trash.

The next thing she realized was something around her neck. She kicked and kicked to try and get free but then everything went black.

* * *

"The wife has no idea what could be wrong. Says they didn't really talk about work."

"Have Kensi and Deeks checked in?"

"Uhm, no I actually haven't heard from them in two hours."

"They should have called by now. Check their location."

"Copy that."

Nell checked where their phones were but couldn't find anything. "I don't see them. Their phones have been turned off."

"Can you turn them on?"

"No."

"What was their last location? We're heading there now."

* * *

The first thing she noticed was a pain on the back of her head. It was stinging and her eyes felt heavy.

"Kens." A voice said but she couldn't place it. "Kensi, open your eyes." When she finally did she saw her blonde partner above her. Her head was cradled in his lap and he was stroking her cheek. "Hey, there."

Kensi groaned in pain and closed her eyes for a second again. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. I think it's a basement." She started to sit up. "Woah Kens, slow down."

"We've gotta get out of here." She stood up and wobbled with Deeks still having a grip of her arm.

"I've already checked. Kens, you need to sit down. Your head is bleeding a lot." She listened to him and let him help her sit down. She was feeling a little lightheaded and was definitely exhausted.

"What do you think they want?"

"I have no idea. Hopefully the team will notice we haven't checked in and find us here." They had taken their phones and weapons but he had faith in their team to find their location. "For now we just need to keep pressure on your head." She noticed his hoodie in his hands with blood all over it.

"How long was I out?"

"Not too long since I woke up but I have no idea how long we've both been out."

"This is not how I expected this day to go." She laughed but it was a painful laugh.

"Me either."

You don't expect to leave the house and possibly not come back at the end of the day. Then her thoughts turned to something else, rather someone else.

"Jules…" She stated knowing he'd understand exactly what she meant.

"I know. Today has not been a good day, but I've been in worse situations and have made it out so we're going to be okay." He always had to tell himself that, no matter what, everything would turn out okay in the end. So far his luck hadn't run out and he wasn't planning on that ending today. It may have started off a bit rough when his alarm didn't go and the afternoon wasn't a good situation at all but at the end of the day, he hoped he'd be home again.

"We need to get out of here." She said again. "You need to get home to Jules."

"I know and we will." He squeezed her hand.

* * *

Sam and Callen were searching the house for Kensi and Deeks. Looking for any clues as to where they could be or if they had even made it inside the house. Between all the mess they weren't even sure what they could find.

Almost giving up on this location, they made one last walk through of the place.

"G, wait!" Sam said as he bent down to pick something up.

When Callen came closer, he saw what it was. "They were here." Sam was holding Kensi's necklace that she always wore under her shirt.

"Backyard." Callen said drawing his weapon again as they continued their search.

* * *

Deeks looked at his partner, he'd never seen her like this. She was concentrating on her breathing and trying to keep her eyes from closing but she smiled slightly.

"She's the cutest."

"Mhm?"

"Jules." She said making Deeks smile too.

"Yeah, she really is." He agreed. "She's my entire world."

"This morning she said you haven't had any relationships in a while." Kensi confessed, there was nothing else to do besides talk and wait. With the hope that the team would find them.

"Did she now?" He chuckled. "I have but they never last very long. I think I introduced one girl to Jules when she was about three, she doesn't remember but I haven't brought anyone home, no." He scratched his head nervously. "They usually say they don't mind that I have a kid but when the reality sets in, they freak out."

"I'm sorry, that must be frustrating… I kind of get where they're coming from though."

"So do I. It just sucks for me. I'd like to have a family someday and have more kids, but it's proving to be hard to achieve." He looked her in the eyes. "At some point everything will work out though, I hope, there will be a woman who will love Jules as her own and wants to be a family."

"I hope it for you." She said sincerely.

"Are you seeing anyone?" As long as they were on the topic, he was curious to know.

"No… The only guys I have contact with are the ones shooting at me, Callen, Sam, Eric and... you. Doesn't leave much time for a personal life relationship."

"It is possible, but it's hard, I know. It's difficult to change your way of life and routines for someone else, Jules and I do things certain ways and bringing someone else into that would change the dynamics, change the perspective on how we go about our daily lives."

"Yeah, it's an adjustment."

"When was your last serious relationship?"

"Uhm…" She thought about it. "I guess about six years ago."

"That's a long time."

"Yeah."

"Jack." He said softly.

"Mhm." He could tell that Jack leaving her on Christmas day had had a huge impact on her and it was understandable. You don't just bounce back from that easily. She had put up many walls in order to protect herself and so it wouldn't happen to her again.

"So have you had smaller relationships since then?"

"Yeah a few but nothing really lasted and then I kind of gave up on it. I don't usually go on second dates, I just end things before it gets serious."

"Sam told me that."

"You guys talked about me?" She asked skeptically.

"Well, no you see… it was more of just a comment. I don't even remember in what context really, so if you could not mention that I just told you what he told me, that would be great." He rambled.

"Don't worry, I won't rat you out to the big guy." She laughed softly.

"See you're laughing but this isn't funny. Have you seen the size of his arms?"

"Oh I've noticed, your arms could never compete with that."

"So you admit you've checked out my body?"

"Deeks." She kicked him softly with her foot by sliding it towards him. She didn't really feel like moving her arms because she was so tired.

"Good to know." He chuckled dodging her foot. "Alright, what are the ideal things you look for in a man?"

"I can't believe I'm talking to you about this."

"Come on partner, I want to know."

"Okay, uhm someone who is caring but not too clingy, who can give me space and leaves me alone when I want to be. He needs to have his own hobbies…"

"You like to be independent." It was pretty clear to him.

"Yes, I do. I've been independent for a very long time and I like it." He wondered what the underlying meaning of that was because he knew there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Sometimes it can be nice to share your struggles with someone else though, you're not alone in this world." Implying that he was there if she ever needed to get

"I know but sometimes it's easier to just fix things yourself. You don't have to rely on others, especially when they're not there." He didn't really know how to reply to that. "What about you?"

He thought about it. "She needs to be kind and caring, maybe tall and athletic but I don't really care what she looks like, she just needs to want to be a mom or at least a mother figure to Jules. Not get jealous if I have to cancel a date because my kid needs me more, can't stand when they get all 'you don't even seem to care about me'." He imitated with with a high pitched voice. "They need to understand that my baby girl will always be my priority."

She could see why he had been struggling with his dating life. Most women didn't want to be put in second place but she was sure he'd find the one. "Someone will, there's people out there for us." She said hoping it was true.

"They better be." He laughed.

"The real question is, where do we find these people?"

"Maybe our better halves are closer than we think."

They looked at each other intently until she broke eye-contact. There was more behind that statement that she just couldn't go into right now. "I thought I'd found mine already but I was wrong."

"Was that before NCIS?" She nodded. "You were so young. What made you join?"

"Well my dad was a marine and I always knew I wanted to do something like that, so I just sort of landed upon NCIS."

"That's cool."

"Mhm." Her eyes started to close.

"Stay with me Kens. Don't go falling asleep on me now." He joked but meaning what he said.

"I'm so tired."

"I know you are but you've gotta stay awake and keep talking to me." She opened her eyes as they waited.

* * *

More law enforcement officers were now surrounding the house. They had three missing NCIS agents with no clues as to where they'd gone and each moment that passed made them more nervous about their return.

They searched the house and the yard then moved to the shed. Everything was triple checked with no result.

* * *

The pounding on the door worried them, whoever had brought them here was back. Deeks moved to crouch in front of Kensi to protect her from what was about to come through that door.

"Callen?!" He asked in disbelief.

"You guys okay?" He asked quickly followed by Sam entering the room.

"Yeah but Kensi has a head injury, it's bleeding."

"We're going to need an ambulance for Kensi." Sam said into his ear mic.

"No, I don't need it. I'm fine." Kensi protested.

"You're not Kens."

"Deeks." She warned as she went to stand up.

"You need to get checked out." He said as he helped her.

"You don't need to get up yet Kensi, we'll have the paramedics come down here." Callen stated.

Deeks looked at her face and knew. "I think we'd like to just get out of this place."

Just when she thought his insisting was annoying, he used it in her favor. Just as she knew he did everything in her best favor because he cared.

"Okay."

"Where are we anyway?" Deeks asked.

"Secret basement in the shed." Callen told them. "We arrested two suspects who were driving back with your car Kens. That's why we weren't sure you guys had made it here at first. We found the missing agent down here as well, hurt but alive."

"That's good. Case solved."

"Yeah."

"Can you walk?" Deeks focused his attention on Kensi again.

"Yes." He helped her out.

* * *

Later when they were outside, Kensi was perched on the back of the ambulance waiting. "You should go home."

"It's okay, I want to make sure you get home okay."

"Sam or Callen can drop me off."

"I already told Alice, I'll be later."

"Deeks…"

"I'm coming with you, stop fighting it."

He rode with her to the hospital in mostly silence. She was not happy to be going there let alone that he was coming too. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up in her bed.

When they got her seated on a bed, it was confirmed that she would need stitches. She wanted to show that it didn't hurt but it really did.

"Wanna squeeze my hand, Kens?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt."

He grabbed onto her hand before she could say anything else. He did it because he knew she wouldn't want to admit it, but maybe it would be nice to know she wasn't alone. Her grip noticeably tightened as the doctor went on and after a short while he was done.

* * *

Sam had dropped them off at work so they could take Kensi's car home. Callen had driven it back to osp once they realized she needed to go to the hospital so Deeks was now driving her home. It was a complicated situation with the cars but the plan was for him to drive her car until the next day. He had pleaded her to stay the night at his apartment like she had Christmas night but she really just wanted to go home to her bed.

He parked the car in one of the spots in her apartment building's parking lot and turned towards her.

"I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning."

"You better not sleep past your alarm again." She smirked.

"I wouldn't dare."

"Good."

"Callen called while you were resting and said that the agent was going to be okay."

"That's great."

"Yeah." He searched his own pocket for his house keys but remembered something else. "Oh, Sam gave this to me." He handed her a necklace. "They found it in the house, it's how they knew we'd been there."

She nodded seeming to get emotional. "Guess he's always looking out for me." She whispered.

"Who's that?"

"My dad." She said as she started at it in her hands. "He gave to me and I haven't taken it off since."

"That's amazing." It was crazy how some things played out in the world. Without the necklace Sam and Callen could have had no clues as to where they were or that they even gone inside the house and he might not have been going home to Jules now. "Do you want me to put it back on?"

She looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. "Yes, please." She handed it to him and turned herself towards the passenger side window. Then moved her hair to the side and let him put the necklace around her neck.

"They make this look so much easier in movies, my fingers are too big." He said semi-seriously as he was trying to attach the two ends with the clasp but it made her laugh, not just a small laugh but a full out belly laugh.

The tension from today finally leaving the air. They were okay.

When he was finally able to connect it, she turned towards him again. "Thank you Deeks."

"Anytime partner."

"See you tomorrow."

"I'll be early." He promised as she closed the door.

* * *

When he got home, it was late. After Alice left quickly, he softly made his way over to Jules' room and he opened the door slowly. There she was, asleep cuddling her little bear. He walked to her bed and crouched down beside her head just to look at her little face.

She opened her eyes a tiny bit and spoke softly. "You didn't come home early."

He smiled a little. "No, I did not but I'm here now." He kissed her cheek.

"Can I sleep in your room tonight, daddy?"

"Sure sweetheart." She started to sit up. "Let's bring all the babies." He said taking a hand-full of her stuffed animals leaving the rest for her to get.

It was on days like this, that you had to keep your loved ones a little closer and hug them a little tighter. Thanking the universe for not letting his luck run out today, they fell asleep.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

I always hate when stories don't get finished, yet here I am not updating my own! Sorry everyone who's been following this story. Can't believe I haven't posted since 2018, where did the year go!

In this chapter I'm bringing the Deeks and Sam feud a little earlier than later seasons hahaha. Hopefully it's not too much. There's still more to the story! Stay tuned!

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late." Deeks rushed through the bullpen and quickly sat down.

"Third time this week." Sam commented.

Deeks decided to ignore the comment and get started with his work.

Moments later, Eric announced from above. "We got a case."

An hour later they were entering a warehouse in full tactical gear.

"On my count." Callen said and then they breached the building.

Callen signaled for Deeks and Kensi to move towards the rooms on the left while he and Sam took the other side. Going through a door, they searched the area.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Kensi, Deeks?" Callen said over the coms.

"Federal agents! Hands in the air!" Kensi shouted at their suspect. The man hesitated. "Don't..." She spoke but it was too late, he took off in a sprint.

"Why do they always run?" Deeks mumbled as they ran after him.

He led them through several rooms and then eventually outside. The moment they went through the door the suspect had just gone through, all they could see was the back alleyway and no suspect.

They slowly made their way down the small street. Each taking a different side to focus on as they cleared behind crates and walls.

Kensi walked slowly, stepping with one foot in front of the other. A gust of wind blew past her ear and she turned sharply gasping. There was nothing. She looked behind her at Deeks to see how he was and the moment she did that a force pushed her to the ground knocking her hand into her face. The suspect took off towards the end of the alley and out of her view.

"Kens!" Deeks ran over to her after hearing the scuffle and crouched down to her, still on the ground.

"I'm okay. Go, go, go!" He hesitated

"Are you sure?"

"Deeks, go!" Then he went in the direction that their suspect had gone. He ran quickly but when he ended up at a busy intersection, he knew it was too late. The suspect wasn't in sight.

"Nell, I lost him."

" _Okay, putting out a bolo."_

He made his way back to Kensi and saw her hold her hand against her cheek.

"Couldn't find him." He said. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Her tone slightly irritated.

"Okay." He said and he couldn't help but feel that some of that anger was directed towards him.

* * *

"What happened out there?" Hetty asked her senior agents.

"I'm not sure." Callen said. "The suspect got away."

Sam looked pissed now that the main suspect in their case had taken off running and could be anywhere.

"Maybe a partner swap would be best for now."

"Hetty…"

"It can be of great help to switch it up every once in a while." Her tone, leaving no room for discussion.

As the partners made their way back to their desks where Kensi and Deeks were sitting, there was a silence that fell over them until Eric came running down the stairs. "We found him. He entered the building in Santa Monica fifteen minutes ago." He showed them the footage.

"He hasn't come out any of the exits." Nell added.

Callen stood up and gave them their tasks. "Kensi and I will go to Santa Monica. Sam and Deeks, you guys can interview his mother when she gets off from work at three o'clock, see if she knows what's going on."

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other surprised that they were being split up but she followed Callen out of the building quickly.

* * *

After they arrived back from interviewing the mother, they were supposed to do some paperwork but the silence was quickly ended.

"You seem distracted." Sam stated.

"Excuse me?" Deeks said slightly offended.

"You're distracted." Sam repeated.

"Well I'm not out there with my partner."

"And who's fault is that?"

"You know what, I have work to do. I need to make a call to LAPD."

"Of course you do."

"I don't know what your problem with me is."

"I feel like you have one foot in LAPD and barely one foot here. You're often late, you leave early, you're on the phone all the time..."

"I'm committed to NCIS. I always have Kensi's back. We work well together." He said clearly. "Always have everybody's back."

"What's your point?"

"I can take the crap you dish out ten times over. I'm just curious about the why."

"I'm Navy, straight up. Everything you do is different. The way you dress, your jokes. Your hair." Sam pointed up to his head as if it wasn't already clear.

"If this is about my haircut it needs to end."

"It's not about your hair. It's about what it says about you as a person."

"So you're saying it's about my character?" He couldn't believe this was happening right now.

"Yeah, something like that."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you let your partnership get in the way of the case."

"I was concerned for my partner's safety. That's what partners are for."

"Then why did the suspect get away?" Sam took Deeks' silence as defeat and walked away, leaving Deeks standing there in frustration.

A moment later he heard a voice behind him. "Hey."

He turned to see who it was. "Hi Nell. You need something?"

She hesitated before answering. "No, I was just seeing if you were okay? I overheard and…"

"I'm fine, thank you, though."

"It seemed pretty heated, are you sure?"

"I'm good." He said but his face said otherwise.

"It's been a long day. I'm sure with a good night's sleep, everything will be good tomorrow."

"Yeah." He hoped so. She turned to walk away. "Thank you Nell." She looked at him one more time and smiled.

"Goodnight."

* * *

"Where's Deeks?" She said as they got back.

"Left already." Sam said.

"Oh okay." Kensi went to pack up her bag quickly. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Goodnight."

She walked down the hallway, when she heard her name. "Kensi?"

"Yeah? Nell." She said when she saw her coworker standing there.

"I know I probably shouldn't interfere and it really isn't my place but Sam and Deeks got into a pretty heated conversation earlier and Deeks seemed upset."

"Oh okay, I uhm… I'll call him and see how he is. Thanks."

* * *

"Alright dinner is served." Deeks said as cheerfully as he could as he put the plate in front of her.

They ate quietly and when she finished she came over to him.

"What's wrong Jules?"

"Nothing." She laid her head on his shoulder.

"Just need a cuddle?"

"Yeah."

"I need a cuddle too." He kissed her head. "I had a rough day at work."

"How come?"

"Just had a little argument with someone cause we didn't agree."

"Did you stand up for yourself?" She asked and he had to smile as she repeated a question he had often asked her over the years.

"I did."

"Was it with Kensi? Is that why she's not here?"

"No, sweetheart. I didn't have an argument with Kensi, it was someone else."

The doorbell rang so he stood up and walked to the door with Jules in his arms. When he looked through the peephole, and saw that Kensi was on the other side, he swung it open.

"Hey." She said softly.

"Hi. Come in." He stepped aside for her to walk in.

"Hi Jules, how are you?"

"Okay."

"You tired?" She asked the little girl and she nodded. "Me too. It's been a long day." Kensi looked at Deeks. He looked exhausted too. "I uhm…" She didn't really know what to say. She knew the reason she was here but she didn't want to say it in front of Jules.

"Have a seat Kens. We were just sitting here."

There was silence between them until Kensi spoke softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great." He said hoping it sounded truthful but then Jules moved her head from his shoulder to look at him.

"You said you had an argument. That's not great." She said to her dad with worried eyes.

Deeks smiled at that. Kids are brutally honest at the 'best' moments. "I'm okay sweetheart." Looking at Kensi, he could see that she wasn't buying one second of it. "I think it's time for bed."

She made a face. "You always say you think when you really mean, it is." Jules' honesty continued and this time Kensi smiled.

"It's my nice way of telling you, it's bedtime." He kissed her forehead and then stood up with her in his arms still.

"Goodnight." They said and Kensi stayed where she was.

"I'm going to read with her for a bit, you can stay if you want but it might be a while."

"Sure. I'll be here."

On the one hand, he was glad that she wasn't leaving again so fast but on the other hand he knew the reason was because she wanted to talk about what had happened earlier that day. He just hoped she wouldn't pressure him too much.

* * *

She'd been sitting and waiting for a while now and she was afraid that maybe he was stalling, not wanting to talk to her. She had to use the restroom so she made her way to the back of the apartment.

As she walked past Jules' room she could hear them talking and stopped to listen. She didn't want to invade on personal conversations but she heard Jules spelling out words.

"She… was… g-o-i-n-g… to… uhm…" The reading was very slow.

"Swim."

"In… the… o… "

"Where does daddy like to surf?"

"The beach?"

"What do we call the water?"

"Uhm… the sea?"

"It is but this is a different word for it, the ocean."

"She was going to swim in the ocean." She repeated the whole sentence.

"Great job sweetheart. I think that's a good place to stop for tonight. I'm so proud of you."

Kensi heard Deeks wrapping up their conversation but she didn't want to stop listening.

"I love you this much daddy."

"Well I love you this much."

She could imagine them spreading out their arms as they said it along with the tiny giggles coming from Jules. There was a beat of silence and then she heard Jules' soft voice ask him a question.

"Are you going to tell Kensi about the argument now?" The moment she heard that she walked away to the bathroom. His response was not for her to hear even if she desperately wanted to know.

* * *

He left her door open slightly and then made his way back to the livingroom. She looked up and stood. "Hey."

"Hi." He came closer, rubbing the back of his neck as he did when he was nervous.

She hugged him uncharacteristically. "I'm so glad you're my partner."

"Who told you?" He stepped back.

"Nell, but that's not why I'm saying this. I should have said it earlier and I know I wasn't always the friendliest partner but I'm really grateful that you joined the team."

"I'm glad I did too, for some reasons… but it's hard with Jules."

"I'm sorry for whatever Sam said, Deeks. He doesn't know and I know that if he did he would understand."

"He's a dad and he's never late to work."

"He also has a wife who takes care of the kids' schedules."

"He's right though, I have one foot at LAPD and I'm trying to be at NCIS but then Jules needs me and I don't know." He moved a hand over his face in frustration.

"I know you probably won't want to but... you could tell them."

He sighed. "I really don't know." He walked back to the living room slowly. "On one side maybe they'd understand but on the other side, I just really want this to be my thing. Knowing about Jules shouldn't change their minds about me."

"You're right, but it could help to explain some things."

"I really don't want them to know yet."

"I understand."

He looked at her. "Your cheek looks okay." He said reaching to move his thumb over her cheek softly.

She held her breath for a second and then spoke. "I said I was fine. I was just surprised."

"I'm glad. You want a drink?"

"Yes, please." They enjoyed eachother's company and Deeks was grateful for his partner.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

This chapter format is a little different. Hope it's not too confusing!

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

Nell grabbed a shopping cart and made her way through the aisles. She'd gotten home late last night, after finishing a case on Saturday, to find that her fridge was completely empty. This job had been taking up all of her time.

When she made her way to get some microwave-dinners, she saw someone she recognized. It was Kensi from work standing behind a cart next to the frozen aisle. Nell started walking towards her to say 'hi' but she halted when a little girl came over and put a box of cereal in the cart.

Kensi smiled. "Okay, I've narrowed it down to vanilla icecream with chocolate sauce or our standard favorite, rocky road. What do you think?"

"That one." Putting the rocky road icecream in the cart, Kensi started to turn to walk away, so Nell quickly hid behind the shelves of one of the aisles. She didn't really know Kensi or her life.

She wasn't even sure why she was hiding. This is weird, she thought. There could be a lot of reasons Kensi is shopping with a kid. The obvious answer wouldn't be so surprising. But for some reason she didn't think she was supposed to know.

She busied herself looking for food in the aisle she was in and after enough time she moved further. Looking around, she didn't see Kensi anymore.

 _12 hours earlier_

* * *

"Kensi?"

"In position, just say the word." She replied to Callen while she looked through her sniper scope from the hill beside the meeting location. They were there to hopefully arrest their main suspect and some of his buddies.

"On three. One, two, three, go!" The shot pierced through the air, hitting right next to their suspect to distract him, as the three other agents moved in. Shots rang out in a battle between the good and the bad.

Kensi aimed and shot several times, resulting in some taking cover.

Deeks got one to surrender and Callen and Sam took down the rest.

"Suspect is in custody." Sam said through the comms so the entire team knew.

"Good work today. Let's wrap this up."

Kensi packed up her rifle and made her way down to the hill.

"Let's secure the weapons at ops, then everyone can go home, reports can wait till Monday. It's been a long few days."

Back at the mission. "One was taken to the hospital but he's going to be fine."

"Oh goodie." Deeks said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well done, get some rest." Hetty said and then walked away.

* * *

Jules woke up and got out of bed to see who was there. She decided to do what she did every morning and just check if her dad was sleeping. Deeks jerked awake when his bedroom door opened.

"Daddy!" Jules practically shouted when she saw that he was home. Running towards him to land into his open arms.

"Hi baby. How are you?"

"I'm good. When did you get home?"

"Really late last night. It was almost morning."

"Really?!"

"Yeah." He had to smile at her amazement.

"Working on a Saturday, that's crazy."

"It is, isn't it? But I'm here now."

"I'm happy." She smiled.

"Me too."

"Did you have fun with nanny Alice?"

"Yeah, we did crafts."

"That's great." He kissed her head. "Kensi's here because it was so late."

"Yaaay!"

"Shhh, she's very tired. And we know how she gets when she's cranky."

Jules chuckled and nodded her head. "Just like when she doesn't get a donut."

"Exactly." He sat up a bit more against his headboard and then motioned for her to come onto the bed. "Let's watch some tv."

A while later, Deeks heard movement in the hallway and then the bathroom door close. "When Kensi comes back down the hall, tell her to join us."

Jules eagerly got out of bed to stand in the doorway and wait for Kensi. Moments later when she appeared, she waved her over. "We're in here!"

Kensi smiled at the little girl's enthusiasm. As she made her way into the room, Jules climbed back onto the bed and she saw Deeks casually laying there. Deciding to focus on something else, she looked at the tv. "What are you guys watching?"

"Spongebob." Deeks said.

"Wanna join us Kensi?" Jules asked sweetly patting the spot next to her on the bed. How could she say no to that?

"I do, but first I'm going to make some coffee. You want some too Deeks?"

"Oh yes, definitely."

"Jules can I get you something?"

"Milk please."

The fact that this was a very motherly thing, wasn't lost on her. She was getting very close, heck she was already very close to Deeks and his daughter. Her instinct was to run, but the truth was, she didn't want to. The thought of laying in bed, spending time with them and watching tv, even if it was Spongebob, sounded nice.

* * *

A few hours later, they were standing in the kitchen.

"You have no movie snacks?!" She stated shocked.

"Well I'm sorry, I've been a little busy these past few days."

"That's no excuse, I always have good snacks at home."

"That's because you're a hoarding junk food junkie."

She gaped. "How dare you?!" A hint of a smile on her lips. She had no other comeback and he knew it.

"Alright, everyone get dressed. We're going to the market!"

* * *

"We need movie snacks, tv snacks, afternoon snacks, dessert."

"Alright." He looked at Kensi incredulously. "We need some fruits and veggies."

"Have fun Daddy." Jules said as she sided with Kensi.

"Pick something healthy too please!" He shouted after them but they were already going down the snack aisle.

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything that looks good."

By the time Deeks came back, they'd filled the cart with lots of items.

"What did you find?" He asked, looking at it all.

"We got popcorn." Kensi started.

"Chocolate bars." Jules chimed in.

"Cereal."

"Icecream."

"Twinkies."

"Pop Tarts."

"And our healthy food, fruit snacks." Kensi smiled.

"That's candy."

"Made with fruit." She reasoned.

He stared them down but they kept an innocent exterior. Sweet smiles looking back at him. "Alright, are we done shopping?"

He took the cart and turned, heading for the registers and Kensi and Jules high fived in victory.

* * *

 _Present day_

Monday arrived faster than anyone would have liked, but there was work to be done. There wasn't a case yet and in some way they were grateful. They'd just finished a big case and they were all exhausted. Paperwork needed to be done and now they could catch up on it. Sam and Callen decided to take a break and head to the gym.

"Ah I have to go over to LAPD and sort some things out, I'll be back." Deeks said and packed up his bag.

"Okay, good luck."

With Callen and Sam checking on a lead, Kensi was left to do some paperwork for the previous case but she was starting to get hungry.

When Nell came to bring her some new information, Kensi asked her a question. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

"Sure."

They walked to a food stand close to work. "How are you liking ops?" She asked their newest team member.

"It's been going well. I love all the technology we get to use…"

"But?"

"...But I feel like Eric is annoyed that I'm there."

"No, he's just like that." Kensi laughed. "He'll adjust."

"I hope so."

"Trust me, he's just protective of the tech."

"What about you? How long have you been with NCIS?"

"Well I joined in 2003 but I didn't come to this office until about two years ago."

"Wow you all seem so close."

"You kind of have to be when you're out in the field. It doesn't come easily to me though. It took a while to get adjusted."

"Yeah, I don't really know anyone in Los Angeles. I'm from the East Coast and all my family is there."

"Must be hard to be so far away."

"Yeah it is. I miss them." She said. "Anyway, what about you? Did you grow up here?"

"I grew up on bases all over the world but the longest I stayed in one place was in California."

"Nice." Nell smiled. "What about social life? There doesn't seem to be much time for that."

"Yeah pretty much non-existent." Kensi laughed. "Get to know us cause we're your social life."

Nell laughed with her. "Are you married?"

"Hah no, I'm not." Kensi

"Seems like there's a story there?" Nell guessed.

"Uh no, not married, or engaged, or even have a boyfriend. Like I said non-existent social life."

"I don't either." She said. "What did you do on our day off?"

"Slept in and then literally stayed in bed all day watching movies."

Nell laughed, with a little girl she thought. "Me too. Just a day of relaxing."

Her phone rang and it was Eric. "He found something he wants me to take a look at. We should head back?"

"I'm glad to have another female on the team." Kensi said.

* * *

It was nearing the end of the work day and Deeks hadn't been back from LAPD. He got held up later than he thought he would so Kensi was packing up her things to go home. Eric's information didn't lead to anything so they'd gone back to paperwork.

When Kensi looked up she saw Nell coming down the stairs with her bag on her shoulder.

"Hey Nell, wanna come over? We can finish our conversation."

"Yeah, sounds good." She smiled, happy that Kensi was being so kind.

* * *

As Kensi ordered pizza, Nell looked around the apartment's living room. It wasn't a big room and it may have looked smaller with all the things Kensi had fit into the space but nothing indicated that someone else lived there.

"Everything okay?" Kensi asked as she hung up the phone.

"Yeah." Nell said quickly. "Sorry." She was embarrassed in some sense for looking around but she couldn't put the pieces together. "Actually, no, I know this is none of my business but I swore I saw you on Sunday at the market and you were with a little girl."

Kensi tensed, not liking where this was going. She didn't know if Nell had seen Deeks with them as well. "Oh uhm, ... just my friend's daughter." Nell saw the nervousness in her eyes. The hesitation, clearly not the whole truth. Kensi didn't trust her to tell her.

"Okay, yeah I don't know what I was thinking." Nell said.

After a beat of silence, Kensi said. "Do you want a drink?"

"Yes, please." They could definitely use that.

Nell wanted to kick herself, thinking that her awkward behavior had just screwed things up. Kensi was graciously opening her home to her so they could get to know eachother and she had to mess it all up with her accusatory ways. Why couldn't her brain just rest? This wasn't work, she didn't have to analyze people and situations when it came to her own co-workers.

A ringing doorbell pulled her out of her thoughts. "That was fast." Nell said as the pizza had just been ordered.

"Can you get that?" Kensi asked, still busy getting their drinks.

"Sure." She walked to the door and opened it. Who was on the other side of the door surprised her but not as much as the person standing there before her.

* * *

Oooh who could it be? Can you guess?

Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows! Sorry I left you all waiting and with a cliffhanger at that! Whoops! Here's a new chapter!

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

 _A ringing doorbell pulled her out of her thoughts. "That was fast." Nell said as the pizza had just been ordered._

" _Can you get that?" Kensi asked, still busy getting their drinks._

" _Sure." She walked to the door and opened it. Who was on the other side of the door surprised her but not as much as the person standing there before her._

"Hi."

"Hi Nell." He looked like a deer in headlights.

Kensi came to the door surprised. "Deeks?"

Not really knowing what to say, he just gave the reason he came over in the first place. "She was crying and wanted to see you." They all looked at Jules sleeping with her head on his shoulder. "Fell asleep on the way here."

"Come in." She stepped out of the way to let them walk through the door. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I just figured, if it calmed her down, I could give coming here a try. Then she fell asleep but I was already almost on your street. So here I am."

Nell was left standing by the door totally confused. She looked at Kensi laying her hand on the sleeping girl's back and then soothingly smoothing her hair as they talked. The little girl came with Deeks so she must be his daughter but she saw her with Kensi at the market. They didn't live in the same house so they must have joint custody because she'd been crying for her mother, she thought. But they were partners and she knew Deeks hadn't been at NCIS much longer than her, maybe that's why they became partners. All this happening in front of her wasn't how she'd ever seen either of her colleagues so she finally said the only thing her brain could piece together. "You guys have a kid together!?"

Both Kensi and Deeks turned back towards Nell quickly. "No!" They said in unison.

"Daddy?" Jules said, reacting to the noise of their hasty "no's", with her eyes not quite open.

"I'm here." He said softly then spoke to Nell. "She's my daughter."

"Wow I didn't know. It wasn't in your file."

"You've read our files?" Kensi asked.

"Well Hetty gave them to me so I… I looked at them."

"Now you know." Deeks looked at Kensi. "I'm sorry I interrupted your girl's evening."

"No not at all." They both said.

"We were just getting to know each other, being as we are the only females on the team besides Hetty." Kensi said. "We actually thought you'd be the pizza."

"Sorry to disappoint." He chuckled. "I should go."

"No, you should stay. Did you eat? We have plenty of pizza coming." Kensi insisted.

He looked over towards Nell to make sure it was okay and she smiled. "Uhm, alright."

"Do you want to lay her down?"

"Yeah." He went to Kensi's bedroom and laid Jules down on the bed.

* * *

"How's Beale been?" Deeks asked as they all ate pizza.

"I think he's frustrated with me."

"Ah McBeal-y Pants will be fine, I'll talk to him."

"But I don't want him to know that I think that he thinks that of me." She rambled.

The two partners looked at eachother. "I think you will be just fine. Eric just needs to adjust."

"So I've been told." She smiled.

Kensi lifted her beer. "Cheers!"

"To team bonding."

"Welcome to the team Nell." They all clinked their glasses.

Their commotion must have woken Jules up because moments later they saw that she was standing in the doorway looking at them.

"You want some pizza sweetheart?" She nodded her head slightly. "Come over baby girl, I want you to meet someone."

Nell waved at her. "Hi, I'm Nell. I work with your dad and Kensi."

A shy smile graced her lips but she didn't respond.

"This is Juliana." Deeks said.

"It's nice to meet you." Nell said.

"We're very tired today." He didn't push Jules to talk tonight because of the mini meltdown she'd had before.

"Me too, it's been an exhausting few days." Nell sympathized.

Kensi quietly observed them. Nell had a certain ease with children she just didn't have. Somehow though, she and Jules had built up a relationship that she was very happy with.

"You want some juice?" Kensi asked softly as Deeks and Nell continued to converse.

"Yes, please." She said softly, politely as ever.

Nell watched as the little girl followed Kensi to the kitchen until they were out of sight. She and Kensi were obviously close. She'd seen them at the market and Juliana had been very talkative with her plus the fact that she wanted to see her tonight.

Deeks took this moment of silence to speak to Nell. "Kensi's the only other person on the team who knows and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Of course." She understood.

"It's not easy but she's my world."

"Yeah, I can see why. My sister just had a little girl. Babies are so sweet." She smiled.

"They are, except when they won't stop crying." They both laughed.

* * *

The next day they all stood in the middle of the ops center getting briefed on a new case.

"Marine John Parker didn't show up for work this morning. Nobody can reach him and the neighbors reported seeing some strange behavior around 7:30 this morning. They're asking us to look into it."

"We'll check in with his work. You two check the house." Callen said.

"Got it."

* * *

"Another day, another case!" Deeks said enthusiastically getting out of the car. They were parked on a street near the beach in front of some townhouses as they looked for the right place.

"You seem way too excited about that."

"Any day I get to see the ocean and call it working, is a good day." He looked out at a group of girls sunbathing in bikinis. "A very good day."

Kensi glared at his smug smile. "You're gross."

"I'm charming."

"Oh please, you couldn't pick up any of those women."

"I bet I could've picked you up at that age."

"You saying I'm old?"

"No, no…" Trying to dig himself out of the hole he created. "I'm just saying you wouldn't be able to resist my charm."

"Pff, as if."

" _You know we can hear you right?" Nell's voice pierced through their ears._

"We do now." Kensi said with light frustration realizing the comms were on.

They entered the house with weapons drawn as a precaution but it was clear that there was nobody, in the main room at least.

"Dolls. He has a kid." Kensi said matter of factly.

" _I'm checking right now." Nell said._

"There was definitely a struggle." Deeks looked at the shattered glass from the kitchen.

" _John was married but got divorced, they have one child together. I'm going to contact the mother."_

"I hope the kid was with the mother." Kensi said coming to stand next to Deeks to look at the damage.

"We need to move upstairs." They lifted their weapons again and moved to the next level.

Going through the rooms, they didn't see anything strange. "Clear."

"Clear."

"No indication of a struggle upstairs."

"Did you hear that?" Deeks paused.

"Wha…"

"Shh." He silenced her.

There was another thud. "The closet."

They moved into position to open the door. Deeks put his hand on the knob and Kensi raised her weapon. He counted down with his fingers and then swung it open. What they saw was not what they were expecting.

A young girl was tucked in the corner staring at them in shock. Deeks quickly moved in front of Kensi so she could put her weapon away.

He crouched down. "Hey there, my name is Marty and I'm with the police. See, here's my badge." The little girl looked at it with wide eyes. "This is my partner Kensi. She's very nice." He pointed to her. "Can you tell me your name?"

She looked him in the eye and then moved her eyes towards Kensi, after a beat of silence she softly spoke. "Cami."

"Cami?" She nodded. "It's so nice to meet you Cami. Can we take you somewhere safe?" She didn't make a move to come out from the corner so he sat down on the floor. "It's a cool place, like a house on the water. Have you seen the show Bubbles?" She nodded. "Just like that. My daughter loves it."

" _Is that true?" Eric asked and Nell just shrugged, not knowing how to ._

The little girl just kept staring at him. "How old are you, Cami?"

"Five."

"My little girl is a year older than you. Her name is Jules."

" _Her mother has been contacted and is already on the way to the boatshed to come get her." Nell said._

"Hey Cami, your mom's coming to get you but she's going to that cool place I told you about. Will you come with us so we can wait for her?"

Cami seemed to think about it for a moment and then slowly stood up and made her way closer to them.

* * *

The door of the boatshed opened and a woman walked in accompanied by an agent.

"Mama." The little girl ran towards her mother, open arms welcoming her in a hug.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah." The mother hugged her tightly and then looked at her face as if inspecting if she was truly okay.

After the mother-daughter reunion, Deeks and Kensi approached them and introduced themselves. "Hi, I'm Detective Marty Deeks and this is my partner Special Agent Kensi Blye."

"Jessica." She said shortly on the verge of tears.

"We'd like to ask Cami some questions if that's okay?"

The mother reluctantly agreed and they moved over to the couch.

"Cami, how come you were hiding in the closet when we found you?"

She looked at her mother to see if it was okay to answer. "It's alright Cam, you tell them what happened."

"Daddy told me to."

"Did he tell you why?" She shook her head no. "Did he help you hide there or did he just tell you to?"

"He told me to and I had to run upstairs. He seemed scared."

"Did he say anything else? Like when you could come out?"

"He said he would come, but he never did." Her mother tugged her closer to reassure her.

"Where is he?" She asked softly.

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"Did you hear anything?"

"I don't think so." She seemed a little frustrated.

"That's okay. You're helping us so much Cami." He smiled. "Were you hiding for a long time?"

"I think so."

"What were you doing when your dad told you to hide?"

"We were gonna make pancakes."

"That sounds like fun."

"Yeah, it's my favorite."

"Mine too." He smiled.

After a few more questions, they got all the information Cami could give them.

"When can I take her home?" Jessica asked.

"We think it's best if you stay here until we figure out what's going on."

"I'm never letting her stay with him again."

"Ma'am we don't know what happened, and if this had anything to do with your ex-husband personally."

"Speaking from experience, don't keep her away from her father, you'll only regret it later on." Kensi added.

They stepped aside so they could speak in private. "He wouldn't have agreed to take her home if he was expecting this."

Kensi sighed. "He's a good father." At that moment her phone rang. "Sam and Callen found him, they need back up."

* * *

Deeks could see John from the small window. He was tied to a chair with one guy with a gun guarding him. His face was beaten but he was alive.

"Two more by the entrance." Sam said peeking around the corner.

"Everyone ready?" Callen asked.

"Ready." Kensi adjusted her weapon.

They breached the building and took down the first two quietly, not to alert the others who were with John.

Seeing more men standing on the other side of the warehouse, Callen signaled for them to move towards John's direction as they went to the other.

Seeing the agents, his face obviously looked relieved. There was just one person standing in the way. Kensi threw a soda can that was laying around in one direction and Deeks came from the other. He put his arm around the bad guy's throat to take him down without making too much noise. They didn't know if everyone had been accounted for yet with Callen and Sam.

Once cuffed, Kensi approached John. "How are you?"

"Where's Cami?" He asked frantically.

"She's okay, she's safe. She's with her mom." Kensi worked to undo the ties holding him. "How are you?" She asked again.

"I'm fine, I just want to see her."

"You'll see her soon. You're okay."

"Clear." They heard both Sam and Callen say.

"We're coming out." They helped John walk towards the exit just as more agents were arriving on the scene."

"Do you know what they wanted?" Sam asked him.

"Sensitive information, but I didn't give it up."

"We're glad you're okay."

* * *

After discovering who was behind the kidnapping and who wanted the sensitive intel, they brought John to the boatshed to reunite with his daughter.

"Daddy!" Cami ran to her father and was engulfed in a hug.

"Cami, I love you so much." He kissed her head several times, clearly emotional.

"You're hurt." She looked at his bruised face.

"I'm okay. Really okay now."

Jessica stood to the side watching their embrace. When John looked up and saw her, he stood. She quickly moved forward and hugged him. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, me too."

Kensi and Deeks decided to leave and give them some privacy. It was a successful day and the good guys won.

* * *

"The family has been reunited. They'll have some things to discuss." Deeks told Eric and Nell as they entered the bullpen.

"At least her dad's safe." Kensi added.

"Great work today guys." Nell told them.

"Thanks, we couldn't have done it without you."

"Making up the story about a daughter was a nice touch Deeks." Eric smiled.

"Yeah… about that." Deeks started. "That was true." He admitted.

"What?! You have a kid?"

"I do." Deeks chuckled softly at Eric's response.

Eric stood in shock as his teammate told him the news. He looked at Nell to see if she had the same reaction but all he saw was a smile. "Wait you knew?"

"Since yesterday." She shrugged.

"I can't believe it." He shook his head. "And you knew." It was more of a sentence then question reassuring what they'd just said.

"She happens to be staying at a friend's for dinner so do you guys want to grab something to eat?" Deeks asked.

"Sounds good."

"Finally, we finish a case at a decent time." They packed up their bags and walked down the hall.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all so much for the nice reviews! This chapter is based on the episode Personal and has some of scenes from it but most are written around those scenes. Also, Kensi's on the phone a lot hahaha!

Takes place in season two.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

* * *

It had been a horrible morning. Everything was fine, one moment she was laughing with Callen and Sam and the next moment Hetty told her that Deeks had been shot. He was on his morning run and somebody shot him. He wasn't working a case, tracking down a suspect or breaching a building, no, he was running in his free time and still got shot. She was shocked, she couldn't lose another partner. Especially him.

She was standing by the hospital window holding Deeks' belongings when her phone rang with an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hello this is Beach View Elementary. Am I speaking to Kensi?"

"Yes." She didn't know why the school would be calling her at this time of day.

"I'm here with Juliana. It's a minimum day today and nobody has come to pick her up yet. We can't get a hold of Marty or anyone else on the contact list."

"Oh my gosh." She didn't know that Jules had to be picked up early. Deeks hadn't mentioned it and he couldn't have known that he would get shot today. "He's not available right now but I can be there in ten minutes."

"Alright, no problem."

"Thank you for calling." How had she not thought of this before? She had no parental instincts that's why. Deeks would have known what to do, he always did, but he couldn't right now which is how she found herself in this situation. She rushed to her car and drove to Jules' school as fast as she legally could.

When she got there Jules was sitting on some steps in front of the school next to her teacher who was talking to her. She had her huge bright pink backpack on her shoulders and her outfit was absolutely adorable. Kensi walked up to them. "I'm so sorry." Kensi apologized to the teacher.

The teacher stood up. "No worries." She knew Deeks had a crazy work schedule. "I'll see you tomorrow Juliana." She said to Jules and then walked away.

Kensi took a seat next to Jules. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had a minimum day today."

"Where's Daddy?"

She didn't know what words to use. "He was in a little accident this morning so he's at the hospital right now."

"Is he okay?" Her voice filled with worry.

"I think we should go visit him." Jules nodded and they walked to her car.

* * *

They parked in front of the hospital and got out. Kensi stood next to Jules, about to cross the street when she felt a small hand wrap around hers. She looked down at Jules but she just looked straight ahead. They then started walking into the hospital hand in hand and they didn't say anything on the elevator ride up. After a nurse told them his room number, the silence continued the whole way to where Deeks was but before they went in to see him, Kensi crouched down in front of Jules. "He's going to have some bandages on his chest and he's probably still sleeping but it's all to make him feel better okay?" Jules nodded and they entered the room. Deeks was indeed still sleeping so Kensi sat on the chair next to the bed and lifted Jules onto her lap.

"When is he going to wake up?" Jules turned her head and whispered.

"I don't know." She moved some of Jules' hair out of her face. "Soon hopefully."

"Is he hurt?"

"He's going to be in some pain but he's okay."

"I don't like seeing him like that."

"I don't either, but the doctor said he's doing better already."

* * *

They had been sitting next to Deeks, who was still not awake, for a while when Kensi's phone rang. When she saw that it was Callen, she knew she'd have to take this somewhere else. "I have to take this. I'll be back in a sec, just sit here okay?" She stepped out into the hall and talked to Callen. He gave her an update on the case and told her that she was now on protection detail because Deeks getting shot this morning wasn't a 'wrong place at the wrong time' situation but he was ambushed. He said that he and Sam would be coming over soon as well. "Okay, thanks Callen."

She now started to worry. If Deeks was targeted this morning then he would be in danger right now. What about Jules, was she in danger? She was now that she was here with Deeks. Callen and Sam were coming and they didn't know about Jules. Would Deeks want them to know? He didn't really have a choice because she had to protect him and Jules had nowhere else to go. She just hoped Deeks would wake up soon.

* * *

Her phone buzzed with an incoming call again, this time from Hetty. "Hello."

"Hello, Miss Blye. How's our detective?"

"Still asleep but he's going to be okay."

"Good. And how is our youngest Deeks?"

"She's worried but hanging in there."

"I have notified Mr. Deeks' mother and she said she would try to be on her way immediately."

"Uh, yeah. That's good, thank you for doing that." Kensi stuttered over the words as her mind was wrapping around the fact that she'd just forgotten another thing she should have thought of.

"Everything will be okay Miss Blye."

"Yeah, thank you Hetty."

* * *

Deeks groaned and started to open his eyes. "Daddy." Jules said softly.

"Hey, baby." He reached for her hand. "I'm so happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you too, Daddy."

"We're glad you're awake." Kensi said.

"Does it hurt?" Jules asked worriedly.

"No, not right now. The doctors gave Daddy medicine, so I feel better." Deeks started coughing.

"Could you get your Dad a glass of water?" She said pointing to the plastic cups and sink that were on the other side of the room. Jules happily obliged and Kensi had a moment to talk to Deeks. "Have you felt like anyone has been following you this week?" Kensi spoke softly.

"No, why?..." He sighed as what she said sunk in. "It wasn't random was it?"

"No, they waited outside of your apartment. I'm on protection detail now."

"Do you want a straw Daddy?" Jules asked yelling across the room.

"Yes please." Deeks said nicely and then his voice turned angry. "What do they want?" He asked no one in particular. He had made lots of enemies with his job over the years but he had no idea who would do this.

"Sam and Callen are coming to the hospital. Do you want me to take Jules somewhere?"

He thought about it for a moment. "No, I'll just introduce them to her."

"Are you sure? I can take her downstairs."

"You would be leaving me and breaking protocol. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"I'll do it Deeks, I don't care."

"It's okay. Thanks though, Kens."

Jules walked back over to them slowly and it looked like she had filled the cup way too full. She handed it to Deeks very carefully. "Oh thank you so much sweetheart. This is just what I needed." He took a sip from the water, luckily with the straw it didn't spill.

"How was school today? I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up."

"That's okay. We only watched a movie and had a party."

"That's fun."

A knock sounded at the door. Kensi looked at Deeks and he nodded his head. "Come in." She called.

Callen entered and Sam followed. You could see the confusion on their faces when they saw a little girl now sitting on Kensi's lap again.

"Hey, how are you doing Deeks?" Callen asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm doing alright. I uh… I want to introduce you guys to my daughter." He looked at Jules. "This is Juliana."

"Your daughter?" Sam was utterly confused.

"Yes…"

They were both taken aback. "Well it's nice to meet you Juliana. I'm Callen." It was Callen who recovered fastest again and shook Jules' hand.

Sam did the same. "My name's Sam." He smiled. He definitely was not expecting Deeks to have a kid. He never hinted at it whatsoever. Silence filled the room again.

"Are you hungry Jules?" Kensi asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Let's go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat." Jules hopped off of Kensi's lap.

"Kensi, can I have chocolate milk?"

"Sure." They left the room hand in hand.

Sam looked at Deeks and didn't waste anymore time. "We found footage of a car in front of your apartment and then they followed you when you started your jog." Sam started and Deeks moved a hand over his face. "You have to start changing your daily routines especially with you having a daughter." Sam added sternly. Deeks felt like he had failed as a father.

"That's a conversation for another time. Do you recognize these people?" Callen said flipping through the suspects' pictures on his phone.

"No, only from this morning." He was worried about what this meant for Jules' safety.

"Keep this with you." Callen handed him his gun and Deeks nodded silently.

"We're gonna have a talk when you get out of the hospital." Sam said seriously. He was not only talking about switching up his routines but also the fact that he hadn't told them about his daughter.

"Yep." Deeks was definitely not looking forward to that. Another talk with Sam was not a pleasant thought.

* * *

A while later Kensi and Jules entered the room again. Callen and Sam had waited because Kensi would have to be on protection detail again once they left.

"We brought you a muffin, Daddy." Juliana said looking at the food in her hands. She was holding two muffins in her hands and had a bottle of apple juice under her arm. When she finally looked up and realized that Callen and Sam were still there, she turned silent.

She walked over to her Dad and put the muffin on the little table by his bed. "Thank you sweetheart."

"We better get going. We'll keep you updated."

"Don't forget about the conversation we're going to have." Sam said, again mentioning that.

"Yeah." He said reluctantly.

"Call us if you need anything." Callen said.

"We will. Thank you." They left and Kensi turned to Deeks. "What was that about?"

"Changing my routines, I'm too easy to find." He was obviously angry and she wasn't sure if it was about something Sam had said or if it was anger towards himself for not realizing he was being followed.

* * *

Sam and Callen got back in the Challenger and took a moment to let what just happened sink in. "A kid? He has a kid." Sam was just beyond shocked.

"Yeah, it's crazy."

"How long has Kensi known, you think? Did you see how close they seemed?

"Oh I saw. It must be a while."

"Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"Just keeping it separate I guess. Just like you did."

Sam gave him a look. "Don't give me that, G."

"I'm just saying." Callen held up his hands in defeat as he laughed.

* * *

They had been talking about the case, or at least what they could in Jules' presence. She'd been preoccupied with some art supplies while they spoke but the moment her dad started to think out loud, she listened.

"Wait a minute. If I'm an easy target, that makes you guys impossible targets, right? I mean, I'm new to this, but you guys... You guys live your life with a strict regimen that includes heightened security awareness at all times. You said so yourself."

"I'm-I'm sorry. I'm not following." Kensi said.

"I'm a cop, right? And like it or not, I'm the weakest link here, so what if... What if I'm not the target? What if I'm the bait?"

"To lure the rest of us out." She called to warn Callen and Sam. As Kensi was about to leave, Jules saw her father still thinking.

"Wait a minute. I'm still thinking here." He said but she was already out of the room. "Kensi! Kensi. Kensi!"

He pulled his sheets away and unhooked something from his arm in one fast motion. "Stay here Jules, don't leave the room."

She nodded, somehow she knew not to ask questions. Left in the room with one of the machines making a beeping noise, she didn't know what to do.

The nurse entered the room, reacting to the noise. "Where's your father, sweetheart?" She asked sweetly but Jules could tell she was panicked.

"He ran out of the room and told me to stay here." She didn't know what was going on. First Kensi ran out and then her father.

"He's right, you stay right here and I'll go find him." Jules was left alone again with no clue as to what was happening today.

* * *

Once the nurses found him, they wheeled him back to the room so they could redo the stitches of the wounds that had reopened. Jules' eyes went wide and the blood now soaking the bandaids. Kensi walking into the room, picked her up as Deeks spoke.

"You're going to go get a snack with Kensi while they help me okay?"

She nodded her head softly against Kensi's shoulder as they left the room.

"Let's see if the vending machine has something we like." She came to stand in front of it and Jules lifted her head to look. "How about the chips? You like those."

"Yeah." They got some things and settled on a bench in the hallway.

Jules silently ate her chips as her legs were dangling from the seat.

"You okay, Jules? I know it's been a stressful day." She nodded but Kensi could tell she was on her last leg. She rubbed her eye for a moment but then Kensi saw the tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh come here." She wrapped her around the small girl's body and just held her.

Kensi understood. It had been an incredibly stressful day for herself, she can't even begin to imagine how a six year old would feel, especially Jules. She'd been forgotten at school, not forgotten but not picked up on time, seen her father all bandaged up, his painful hisses as he moved all day, met new people which is nerve wracking in itself and then left behind in the room alone as Deeks ran out. Overall, a very stressful day worrying about her Dad.

Then, her phone buzzed with a message. It was Roberta seeing how it was going.

"Your Grandma wants to call. Do you want to talk to her?"

Jules nodded so Kensi dialed the number and spoke to her for a moment.

"Hi Kensi, how is he?"

"Hi Mrs Deeks, he's doing alright, the nurses are in the room right now, so I can't go in there at the moment."

"How bad are the injuries?"

"I can't really go into that right now because Jules really wants to talk to you, but he's okay." She made it clear that they weren't going to discuss the details in the presence of Jules. It would have to be done at a later time.

She handed the phone to Jules and they talked for a long time. A nurse came up to Kensi to inform them that Deeks was all set and they could go back to his room.

"Let's go see your dad." They entered the room and put the phone on speaker.

"Hi Momma."

"Martin, I'm at the airport, they're trying to get me on the next flight but I'm on standby." She rushed.

"Don't panic, I'm okay. Just get here when you can."

"I need to be there."

"You will be. In the meantime, Jules and Kensi are keeping me company."

"Okay good."

"We're all good." He gave Jules a smile to reassure her.

"Yeah, oh they're calling me up. I love you, I'll see you soon."

"Love you too."

* * *

They'd been sitting there for hours as Deeks slept on and off. Jules had switched between sitting on Kensi's lap, playing games on Kensi's phone and drawing with the supplies she'd had in her backpack.

"I don't think he'd mind if you ate his jello cup."

"Really?"

"Yeah, just eat it." She encouraged.

"Okay, I love jello."

"Me too."

Kensi helped her take the lid off and Jules started eating right away.

"You want some?" Jules held up the spoon with jello on it.

"Yes please." She opened her mouth and Jules fed it to her on the spoon.

The little girl was definitely opening up to her more and getting comfortable around her.

"It's getting late, should we go to your house? I'll sleep on the couch?"

"I don't want to leave Daddy alone."

She looked at Deeks laying in the bed sleeping. "I know but I think you'd be more comfortable at home."

"I don't like that." Her small voice said.

"Okay, we'll stay here. Don't worry."

"Promise?" She said so softly that Kensi almost missed it.

"I promise."

"You wanna lay next to him?"

"No, I don't want to hurt him."

"I think he would love to have you next to him."

"Can I just stay here?" She said pointing to the chair she and Kensi were sitting on.

"Sure, sweetheart." She rocked them back and forth lightly. "You can fall sleep. It's okay."

"Need to say night night." Yawning as she spoke.

"He knows." She moved Jules' hair out of her face in a caring way. "He's tired just like you. You'll both be sleeping." Jules nodded finally giving in.

* * *

He watched as Kensi lovingly moved her hand up and down Jules' back. By the time he woke up again, Jules had turned so that her front was facing Kensi and her head could rest on Kensi's shoulder.

"You ate my jello?" He stated as he looked at the table.

"No, Jules did."

"You let her eat my jello?"

"It's been sitting there for hours. She was hungry."

"I like to let my jello breathe."

"Mmm. Big baby."

They joked but he then turned serious. "How's she doing?"

She looked down at Jules in her arms. "She's good, a little upset earlier but she'll be okay."

"She shouldn't have to go through this."

"It's scary to think that they know how to find any of us. I'm sorry it got you injured and put Jules in danger."

"Nobody knew why Kens, this isn't your fault. I'm glad you went to pick her up, I wouldn't want her to be with anyone else. You're the one who can keep her safe."

"But I didn't, they found me and you… and Jules."

"You're not to blame."

"Still feels like it."

"Kens, that's what our job entails. It's a scary thing."

"Yeah, super scary."

"Yeah I mean, they knew where I lived. How do I know that I'm not putting Jules in danger everyday?"

"You don't know, but that would be wherever you lived. Sam's right you just have to change up your routines."

"How do I do that with a kid? She needs structure, which she already doesn't have enough of."

"I don't know the answer to that but maybe Sam can help."

"He has a wife who's a stay at home Mom."

"Yeah…" She didn't know how to reassure him.

"I just can't help but think that it could have been so much worse." He looked at Jules' face, sound asleep, all worries gone as she slept. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if they had taken her or if he would have been killed.

"I know. Thank you for saving me today."

"That's what partners are for." He said. "You guys should go home. Sleep in a bed."

"I already tried. She doesn't want to leave you."

He yawned. "I'm exhausted."

"You need to try and get more sleep. Are you in pain right now?"

"No, just when I move."

"You should lay her next to me and go home."

"I'm okay Deeks. We're good." They were all okay. "I made a promise."

* * *

Thanks for reading!


End file.
